


No Place For Angels

by Darkpurplelighter



Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men (Original Timeline Movies)
Genre: Legacy Virus, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 38,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22257673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkpurplelighter/pseuds/Darkpurplelighter
Summary: After the events of Alkali Lake, Pyro is now with the Brotherhood while Bobby and Rogue prepare to become members of the X-Men, all while a new threat to mutants is brewing. Pyro/Gambit friendship, Gambit/Rogue in later chapters, other pairings.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	1. A Letter and a Response

'The world looks so peaceful from up here, so wonderful and so fragile.'

Rogue thought that to herself as the X-Jet flew slowly above Alkali Lake. She looked down from her window at the blue abyss that Jean Grey had just saved them all from. They all sat in silence, the only noise was Scott Summer's heartbreaking sobs and pleas, the woman he loved was now gone, sacrificing herself so they all could live. As they came closer and closer to Washington D.C, Logan suddenly gathered her and her boyfriend Bobby Drake to the back of the jet and gave them uniforms to change into, so they could all confront President McKenna together about the crimes William Stryker had committed. It was a surprise to them both, Logan stated they wouldn't get uniforms for a couple of years.

When they arrived, Professor Xavier encouraged the president not to make the mistakes of the past, but to work together for a better future. After getting done there, they finally made their way back home after a long, long couple of days. Bobby and Rogue silently walked off the jet, hand in hand as they made their way into the heart of the main building, making their way to the student lounge. Pitor Rasputin, who had led the younger students out of the school during the attack was sitting with Kitty Pryde, who jumped up and ran over to them as soon as she saw them.

"Hey guys!" Kitty cried joyfully as she ran over and hugged Rogue, then Bobby. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine Kitty," Rogue responded.

"Where's John?" Peter suddenly asked. "I thought he was with you guys?"

"He was," Bobby said in a low voice while staring at the floor.

Kitty started to panic.

"What happened? Is John okay? He didn't get hurt did he?"

"He's okay," Rogue said then looked over at her boyfriend. "He decided to go with Magneto."

The four of them were all silent for a minute before Pitor finally spoke up.

"Magneto?"

"But…but he's the bad guy isn't he?" Kitty said to herself. "He's killed thousands of people, he tried to kill Rogue, he's tried to kill the professor himself-"

"We know Kitty," Rogue said, cutting her off. "He went with Magneto. It was his decision." Bobby started shaking his head, looking a little angry now. "Jean…she didn't make it," Rogue then continued. "She died saving us. The dam where we found Stryker ruptured, and she held off the water until we could get to safety-"

"Stop, I don't want to hear anymore," Kitty said, now with tears in her eyes and walked away, leaving them all standing in the living room. Pitor slowly sat back down and rubbed his forehead, the whole thing seeming like one big nightmare.

Over the next two weeks, everyone at the school was trying to move on the best they could. Pitor helped repair the walls that had been damaged in Stryker's attack. Logan pitched in as well and Rogue was glad he decided to stay. He was officially part of the team now. A memorial was held for Jean. The Professor, Ororo, and finally Scott had all given touching speeches dedicated to her.

It was now Friday night, and Rogue was sitting at her desk in her room, a pad of paper in front of her, and a pen in her hand. She was trying to finish an assignment for her English class, but something…or rather someone was on her mind right now. A memory of him started to go through her mind, a good memory of the three of them hanging out-

"Okay, John, here's the ball," said Bobby as he put it in the side of the table, and the game began. John swung his players and missed a few times, while heckling Bobby a bit.

Bobby looked over at his girlfriend as she continued working on her biology homework.

"Come on, Rogue, you're writing too slow! How are we supposed to play foosball if you're writing at such a slow pace?" 

"I'm going as fast as I can," she responded, not even bothering to look up.

Bobby shrugged and continued with the game. Of course, in the distraction, John managed to score. 

"Wha-?" said Bobby, "That's...That's cheating!"

"No, it's not," John responded. "It's not my fault you got all distracted." Bobby crossed his arms, and John chuckled as he moved the point counter so that he had one point. Their game continued and John managed to score two more goals. Rogue sighed and placed her sheet on the table.

"Okay, I'm going to have to go back and redo a few answers," Rogue said to herself as she walked over to the foosball table, to her boyfriends side.

"Come on Rogue, John's far ahead!"

"Ready John?" Rogue asked as she grabbed on of the bars.

John threw back his head and laughed, which she took as a yes. Rogue then swung one of the bars furiously, startling him out of his trance. John quickly moved to try and counter the attack, but it was too late. Rogue had scored...

XXXXXXXXX

Rogue didn't realize her eyes were closed until she opened them and looked down at the pad of paper for another minute before she was finally able to get her hand writing.

Writing to the person that had been on her mind since Alkali Lake, and no, it wasn't Jean.

Dear John;

We're supposed to be writing letters for class. Letter's we're not even going to send, and we don't even have to show the teachers. It's more for counseling or therapy reasons because Ms. Grey…Jean died at the lake. But my mind keeps going back to you. After all, you're still in my head, not nearly as strong as it once was, but you're there. And since I like to write and have a lot of things I want to say, here it goes.

I'm angry, and I'm hurt...knowing you went with the man who tried to kill me and left your friends behind.

I'm sorry I used my powers on you at Bobby's house, I could tell you were mad at me for that, but you were going insane! You could have easily killed someone, and you didn't even seem to care! Just like the other's I've touched, I felt you in my head. You were angry, frightened, and wanted to protect us, but you started going way too far. I'm sorry about that, but I had to stop you. Maybe I should have felt you slipping away that night when we were all setting up tents and you refused to pitch in. I figured I'd give you space and when we got back to the mansion you, me and Bobby would talk and work things out, like friends do. I guess I'm not going to have that opportunity now.

And what about Bobby? Do you remember him, your best friend? I can tell that not only is he taking you leaving pretty hard, but extremely personal as well. It's bad enough that his family is still having a hard time excepting that he's a mutant, and you blowing up their front yard didn't help, but to lose his best friend as well, it's really been hard on him.

So now that you're with Magneto, what are you going to do now? Are you going to kill innocent humans? Are you going to fight against us? Because that is what he is going to expect you to do. Did you ever think about that? I wish I didn't decide to wait to talk to you, than maybe you wouldn't have gone with Magneto. You wouldn't have decided that violence is the answer. Maybe if Bobby and I went with you when you decided to leave the jet, we could have stopped you.

I wish I knew what you were thinking right at that moment when the three of us were sitting in silence on the jet. I wish I could change everything and that you were still here with us. I miss you a lot.

Just remember something John, every bad thing that happens to mutants, it's the fault of you and people like you who think that were somehow superior. We're not. We're just human, John. All of us.

Your friend,

Rogue.

By the time she was finished, Rogue was wiping away tears that were flowing down her cheeks.

Someone then knocked on the door.

"Rogue?" Peter called, "Are you ready to go?"

Rogue then remembered that she and Bobby made plans to go to the movies tonight with Peter and Kitty. She quickly wiped away the remaining tears and threw her jacket on.

"Coming," she replied, eager to get some fresh air. She opened her door and closed it behind her, with the letter laying on the desk, waiting for her to come back.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

He knew it was a risk coming back here, especially coming back here at night when the school was invaded during the night just two weeks ago. The security had to have been improved since.

'Just get your things and leave,' John Allerdyce thought to himself as he made his way up to the front door of the mansion. He slowly grabbed the doorknob and saw that it was still unlocked and opened the door quietly, stepping inside.

Once he was in, John quickly walked through the hall, relived that nobody else was around and made his way up the steps.

A short distance away Mystique was waiting in a helicopter for him to return. She said she would give him twenty minutes to gather his things then return. If he didn't return within the time frame, she would take off, because something would have went wrong.

'Nothing will go wrong,' John thought to himself as he turned the corner and made his way to the bedroom he and Bobby shared. 'They can't make me stay.'

He took a deep breath as he finally reached his room and lightly grabbed the door handle. He was hoping that Bobby would be asleep or out with Rogue, but he really didn't know what to expect. Finally twisted the handle, John opened the door and smirked when he saw that the room was empty.

"Perfect." John said to himself.

He sprung into action, snatching his black bag from underneath his bed and started shoveling his clothes inside it and disregarding the useless stuff, like old magazines and video games. After placing his leather jacket in the bag, he stood and zipped it up. It wasn't much but his lighter was in his pocket, and that was all he really needed anyway. John threw his bag over his shoulder and exited the room, closing the door behind him. He was about to go down the staircase only to freeze in his tracks when he noticed Ms. Munroe and that blue circus freak from Alkali Lake at the bottom, starting to come up.

"Shit," John whispered to himself. Everything had been going so well. He began rapidly thinking to himself of what to do next. He then remembered Rogue's room had a long pipe outside her window. He could climb down it and make his escape. Since Bobby wasn't here, she shouldn't be either. John jogged as quietly as he could to Rogue's room and ran inside when he reached it, closing the door behind him. Before he could make his way to he window, he looked down at her desk because the lamp on top of it was still on and he noticed a large pad of paper with a lot of writing on it underneath it.

Curiously, he picked it up and his jaw almost dropped when he saw the first two words.

Dear John;

It was some sort of letter, to him. John guessed she never meant for him to read it though. A part of him just wanted to put it down and go through the window, but he just couldn't. He sat down on the bed and started reading...

...And he ended up reading the letter several times. When he finally managed to put it back down, John balled up his fist, torn between anger and a sort of vicious satisfaction. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to clam down. Tried to remember why he was here in the first place, but the only thing he could think about now was Rogue's words in that letter. He took out his lighter and flicked it open once, staring at the flame. He thought about turning the letter into a pile of ashes to let her know he was here, put instead he looked over at the clock and realized…

He still had plenty of time.

XXXXXXXXXXX

By the time Rogue had gotten back to the mansion with everyone else it was going on 11:30. She yawned as she made her way back to her room after saying goodnight to her friends, the only thing on her mind now was a good nights sleep. Rogue walked in and closed the door behind her, kicking off her shoes and pulling off her gloves. It was nice they all had a good night together, like they always did before, before Alkali Lake. There was just one person missing. She walked over to her bed and stopped when she saw a note on her pillow. Rogue picked it up and unfolded it and then dropped it in shock when she immediately recognizing the handwriting.

All her pervious thoughts were quickly pushed out of her mind as she picked up his letter again and started reading.

Dear Rogue;

I'm sure you didn't plan on me seeing that letter. I'm in bit of a rush so my handwriting might be a little messy.

Where should I start? What do you want me to say? Should I be sorry that the whole time we were at Alkali Lake I was questioning everything we were taught? That we should make nice with humans and try to live in peace with them, only to have a bunch of men break in to the place we're suppose to be safe with weapons and chase us out? I'm not.

Believe it or not, when I got in that helicopter with Magneto and Mystique and we lifted up in the air, I was thinking about you and Bobby. But then I started to realize, when is the last time you or Bobby were ever there when I really needed you?

Never. You and Bobby were always with each other.

It doesn't matter really. Don't worry, you never have before. Have you ever once really needed me here? I don't think so. You won't ever have to worry about me hanging out with you on one of your little dates. I'm sorry to hear about Jean, she was always my favorite teacher here.

I read what you said about us all being normal, all being human. Except we're not human Rogue. We're not normal. You of all people should know that. We're better than normal. We are superior. We are gods among insects. And until we all except that and stop hiding what we are, we will continue to be hated and feared. How many more times will the mansion have to be invaded for you to realize that?

You won't believe me. I don't expect you to. You can't, unless you find out what it's really like out there, and you won't. You're shielded from it, which I guess is okay, but I'm not. I've seen first hand how humanity treats mutants and it's not a pretty sight. If you've been through half of what I've been through, you'd understand that. I'm not complaining. You asked why and that's my answer.

I'm done being your third wheel.

Pyro.

Rogue had tears in her eyes by the time she had finished the letter, because it didn't sound like him at all. Not the John she had known anyway.

He sounded…brainwashed.

His words were written with such intense honesty and bitterness, and she kept reading over the last line again and again.

"I'm done being your third wheel."

Did he really think that's all he was to them?

She also noticed the way he had signed it, "Pyro" instead of John.

After reading it over a few more times, Rogue finally got up off her bed, the letter clutched in her hands. She decided to show the letter to Bobby. He had known John the longest, if anyone deserved to see it, it was him. As Rogue entered his bedroom, she could tell Bobby already knew John had been here since all his clothes were picked up off the floor. Bobby looked angry when he finished reading through the letter, though she could tell he was trying to hide it.

"He's not the same anymore, is he?" Rogue asked.

"I…I didn't know he felt like this." Bobby said softly to himself.

Rogue touched his arm, trying to comfort him.

Bobby stared at the letter he started thinking. He wondered just how far away John was away from the mansion. If he came back to get his stuff, he couldn't be that far.


	2. Different Directions

"That's it." John snapped as he shut his lighter while getting to his feet and going over to the X-Jet's controls, pushing the button that opened the ramp.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" Bobby asked while getting up and going after him.

"I'm sick of this kid's table shit, I'm going in there." John responded while putting one of the blue X-Men jackets on.

"John, they told us to stay here." Rogue said.

John looked back at her.

"You always do what you're told?"

When neither of them responded John walked down the ramp and into the snow, apparently to head into the facility to help the rest of the team. However, Bobby glanced over at Rogue before heading down the ramp as well.

"Bobby!"

"Don't worry Rogue, I'll be right back."

About a minute later, Bobby came back into view dragging John by the wrist up the ramp and back into the jet. He then forced him to sit back down.

"What the hell are you doing?" John growled, angrily.

"They told us to stay here. So sit down and shut the hell up."

John stood back up.

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Get out of my face." Bobby responded with such a force in his tone that neither John nor Rogue had heard before. Rogue actually looked taken aback by it while John slowly sat back down in the chair. Rogue went over and pushed the button which closed the ramp while Bobby continued to glare down at John. "You're out of control!" Bobby continued. "My family might not ever speak to me again because of what you did back at my house! I don't trust you going in there-"

Suddenly, a sharp pain went through Bobby's head. A noise was going off in his ears, like a sound cannon the police use to break up riots. He brought his hands up to cover his ears but it did no good. He fell to his knees, and when he managed to open one of his eyes he saw that it wasn't only him this was happening to, John and Rogue had both fallen to the ground, their hands covering their ears as well.

Despite the pain, he managed to crawl over a little and reached out, grasping Rogue's hand in his own. Rogue squeezed his hand back, and for a moment Bobby thought that this might be it…they were all going to die. But just as that thought passed through his head, the noise suddenly stopped. Bobby gasped and stumbled up to his feet, helping Rogue up as well and pulling her into a hug.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine."

The two of them then helped John up.

"Are you okay, John?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah."

As the three of them started to relax and took their seats again, Bobby closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. It seemed now that the worst was over...

They were all going to be okay...

XXXXXXXXX

Bobby's eyes snapped open when he heard the alarm going off. He quickly realized that it was morning and it was time to go to class. It was just a dream, he had it the night they all got back from Alkali Lake and he just had it again. The dream were he stopped John from leaving the jet.

He threw the covers off himself and reached over to shut the annoying beeping off. As he did, he looked over at the empty bed next to his. It had been several weeks now since John had left, you'd think that he'd be use to it by now...but he wasn't. After all, whenever it was time for class Bobby always had the task of getting John out of bed because he wasn't what you'd call a morning person. Waking up the other boy had always become part of his routine.

But he didn't have to worry about it now.

He still couldn't believe that John had done it. And the dream that he kept having only made him bring up the question he had been asking himself even more. Why didn't he stop him? He could have frozen John's feet to the ground, or frozen the door shut. No…John would have just melted it. But he could have gone after him, like he did in the dream. He could have stopped him, could have talked him out of joining Magneto. Maybe he could have convinced him to give the Professor another chance. Way too many maybes.

As each one of these questions entered his mind, he unconsciously curled his fingers into a fist. Each one seemed to reinforce the idea that he could have done something, but deep down he knew the reason why he didn't.

He was mad at John.

At the time he was mad at John for what he had done at Boston. So mad he actually thought about asking for another room when they got back to the mansion. But now, the only anger he felt towards his one time best friend was for leaving and going with a known terrorist and that he had actually come back here to gather his things while Bobby wasn't here.

To Bobby, that was a cowardly thing to do. If John wanted his things, fine, but he should have come back during the day time, when Bobby was around that way John could tell him that he was leaving face to face, and tell him why he was leaving. He had asked the Professor it he could possibly locate John, but unfortunately he couldn't. John was too far away by now, and Cerebro had been taken apart by Stryker.

Bobby had been clinching his fist so hard that he had created a small ball of ice in the center of his palm. He didn't realize it until he felt it there. Pulling his arm back, he launched it across the room, and it broke apart when it hit the opposite wall. Still feeling frustrated beyond belief, Bobby ignored the mess he had just made and got dressed before walking out the door, taking the elevator down to Ms. Munroe's class. He took his seat and looked ahead of him, the seat that was once John's was now occupied by somebody else.

There wasn't going to be a disturbance in the class today, a nuisance, because the class clown wasn't here. At first it sounded great, but Bobby remembered that was one of the great things about being friends with John. He was impulsive and unpredictable. It made Bobby's life around here considerably less dull.

"Alright class." Came Ms. Munroe's voice. "Let's get started."

Bobby got out his notebook and prepared for today's lesson. But as much as he tried to concentrate all he kept thinking about was what was waiting for him once today's classes were over with. Today was going to be his first session in The Danger Room.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

On the grounds of Alcatraz Island, Secretary of Defense, Bolivar Trask stood with two soldiers at his side as he waited for his guest to arrive here. Just then the sound of a helicopter got his attention as it made it's way from the east. The helicopter then landed on the island and out stepped Senator Robert Kelly. Bolivar Trask moved forward to greet him.

"Senator." Trask said while shaking his hand.

"Thank you for meeting with me Secretary Trask." Senator Kelly responded.

"It's no problem at all, right this way." Trask and Kelly made their way toward the building passing two more soldiers with machine guns along the way.

"Not an easy place to get to." Kelly said while walking in and observing the jail.

"It's the safest place we could find, that's why we keep the most dangerous mutants here."

Trask led them to the cells, while walking past the guards.

"These mutants have committed all sorts of crimes; murder, robbery, arson. You name it, they've done it." Trask informed him as he and Senator Kelly observed the mutants through their specially made cells, each made to fit the mutants power.

"And what sort of powers to these mutants possess?" Senator Kelly asked.

"We have one that can control electricity, one has super strength, super speed, one can even use her own bones as weapons," Trask laughed.

"Really?"

"Yeah, we call her Marrow."

Senator Kelly rolled his eyes.

"Clever."

"We're also holding two of the mutants involved in the Liberty Island incident."

"Sabertooth and Toad?" Kelly smiled.

"That's what they call themselves, yes."

Meanwhile on the Golden Gate Bridge, horns blare on the rush hour packed highway. Drivers leaned out their windows, craning their necks to see ahead where two cars have collided. A cop stood between two drivers who looked ready to tear each other's throats out.

"Just calm down," The cop said, "We'll get all this reported, then we'll-"

"This asshole should have been watching where he was going!"

"You shouldn't have been riding my ass!"

John looked on from the car he was in at the two men arguing with each other, waiting for the signal from his leader to spring into action. He looked down at his arm and adjusted his wrist lighter, something Magneto designed for him because it would be better for missions. And the sound of him constantly clicking his lighter was driving Magneto crazy.

He was nervous, but excited at the same time. It was his first mission, as a "freedom fighter" as Magneto put it.

His first mission as Pyro.

A groaning then took the air. The cop stares up at the towering cables and girders of the bridge. The drivers stop honking as the bridge shifts. They eyed one another, confused.

"Did you just feel that?" The cop asked one of the drivers.

"What the hell was that?"

The cop and the drivers try not to stumble as the bridge lurches. Suddenly, the support cables snap, whipping down and shattering windshields, denting doors and flinging cars. The Golden Gate Bridge then bended, twisted as if clay. Cracks slither through the street, toppling cars. A huge tanker then exploded. Drivers tried to flee as cars soar and others plunge into the waters, debris with them. Rocks of cement went flying upwards as cars shake as each end rises into the air. Bricks started falling and began hitting some people square on the head, knocking them out. Cars of all kind began to fall off the edges and some plummet to the waters.

On the Alcatraz perimeter, soldiers scramble up the watchtowers.

BOOM!

The soldiers all stopped, gawking up as a huge phalanx of wet wreaked cars hover over Alcatraz…suspended there by some power. A soldier suddenly bursts into the plank where Bolivar Trask and Senator Kelly were standing.

"We have a security breach!" He yelled.

"Stay here!" Trask said to Kelly.

Trask rushed into the abandoned Alcatraz courtyard which permitted a view of the San Francisco Bay.

"My god..."

He took in the sight of the Golden Gate Bridge, or what's left of it. Smoke and fire litter the waters where it should be, only its moorings barely intact. The bridge itself is hovering, almost flying towards him. Magneto then directed the bridge and used his powers to lurch it towards it's destination; the steep, rocky shore of Alcatraz Island. When it plummeted onto the surface, Magneto and Pyro stepped off the wreaked bridge and onto the shore.

On the ridgeline, a line of soldiers file out, guns ready. Magneto saw this and smirked.

"Freeze," One of the soldiers warned. "One move and-"

Before he could say another word, tons of bridge wreckage lifted up and Magneto waved his hand towards the shore, sending it towards the soldiers. The soldiers attempted to fire at him but Magneto merely used his magnetic powers to repel the bullets. Pyro then wielded his fire, like snakes and began searing the soldiers. The soldiers screamed as they caught fire. Pyro gazed upon them as they ran frantically and fell to the ground, trying to put themselves out but couldn't. Back in the facility, the mutants came to the edge of their fiberglass cells, hearing explosions and gun fire. In the corridors, beams from the bridge have impaled the facility, setting the laboratories on fire. The power was now shot.

Magneto then gestured to Pyro.

"Come, we haven't much time."

They walked into the building and headed to the holding cells when a figure came into view.

"Ah, Secretary Trask," Magneto greeted when he recognized him. "My dearest condolences to your recent lost. William Stryker was an upstanding citizen."

Across the room, Senator Kelly enters. Trask reached behind him back towards a holster, but a piece of metal slams against his head, knocking him out. Kelly dropped the metal pipe and transforms, his body morphing into Mystique.

She smiled and approached Magneto.

"About time. This way."

Magneto moved before a large cauldron. He spread his hands and began tugging it apart. Layers of metal break and liquid spills out. Finally it explodes and a large muscular figure spills out of the liquid.

It moved. Shifting. Awakening. A huge Neanderthal gazes up, confused. Magneto extends his hand -

"Cain Marko. It's time for you to rise, my dear old friend."

Cain grunts, pounding the ground awake. Alive. And angry. Outside the facility, soldiers fly back as the ground erupts. Something soars up and lands in the dusty clouds, shaking the ground. As the dust clears, they see;

The Juggernaut.

The soldiers fire but the bullets just bounce off him. We winds up and punches the ground and a fissure ripples out and explodes below the troops, flinging them away.

"Pyro, go down that way," Magneto instructed, gesturing to another corridor. Pyro nodded and turned west while Magneto and Mystique walked to the other corridor lined with holding cells. He raised his arms and the doors unlatch one by one on each side. Out of one of the cells, Sabertooth walked out. Then, the cell beside his, Toad walked out. Toad's eyes widened in surprise when he saw Mystique and Magneto.

"Jesus, I thought you would never get us out," Toad complained while walking towards them.

"Your lucky we're freeing you at all, seeing how you failed at Liberty Island," Mystique said.

Toad glared at his former team mate.

"So much for reunions."

Meanwhile Pyro walked down another corridor and stopped at a room. He looked inside it's glass window and saw a man strapped down on a table. He opened the door and he looked over and saw a man, who looked like a doctor hovering in the corner. Pyro extended his arm and unleashed a wave of fire, taking him out. Pyro looked down at the mutant strapped down and noticed that he looked no older than him. He grabbed the chart off the bed and read his name out loud.

"Remy LeBeau."

He was taken aback when the mutant named Remy opened his eyes. He had red eyes.

"Bonjour," Remy said weakly while looking up at him.

"Can you walk?" Pyro asked the mutant while removing the straps. He then took his hand and helped him to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired from the shit they keep injecting me with."

Remy grabbed a pack of playing cards off the table.

"Who the hell are you anyway?" Remy asked.

Pyro formed a fireball in his hand.

"Call me Pyro. And you are?"

Suddenly, one of the cards glowed a purple color before he flung it out of the room and at a guard coming down the corridor. It exploded when it hit the guard sending him flying before crashing through a wall.

"Call me Gambit," he smirked and walked with Pyro out of the room.

Outside, Juggernaut was finishing up with the remaining soldiers when he turned and saw Mystique, Sabertooth, Toad, Pyro, Gambit, and other mutants emerging from the thick dust and smoke. Magneto descends into the air while eyeing them all. As the mutants gathered before Magneto, cheering, he could only smile. This way only the beginning.


	3. Ghosts of the Past

They were all in the den watching the television when they got the news. The Golden Gate Bridge, or what was left of it had been completely destroyed and all the mutant prisoners broken out of Alcatraz Island. Rogue looked at the shots of the twisted metal, knowing that there was only one person who could have done that. Rogue then looked at the camera shots of all the multiple fires and wondered if John…Pyro was apart of all that. He must have been, Magneto wouldn't keep a mutant like him around and use him for nothing.

She took a quick glance at her boyfriend who was watching the broadcast as well, and they made eye contact briefly before he walked away. She sighed, Bobby and her had not been hanging out like they use to.

In fact, they barely talked at all anymore. The only time they really saw each other was when they hung out in groups. When Peter, or Kitty, or Jubilee were around. It was only a few weeks ago when they couldn't be separated, but now…

Rogue sighed again and walked out of the living room as the others kept watching.

Bobby on the other hand was making his way towards the changing room that held the X-Men uniforms. Scott wanted him to do an exercise in the Danger Room today and he was on his way there until the gathering of students in the lounge, watching the television stopped him. When he got there, Bobby opened up one of the glass cases that held the uniform he had been given just before the team had arrived at the White House. The uniform that was jet black and had the two white X's on either side of the chest area.

He smiled a little when he took it out and held it in his hands.

This was something he wanted more than anything. When Bobby first arrived here a little over three years ago, and he first heard about the X-Men he was instantly fascinated by it. The stories he heard about them were just like the ones he read about in comic books when he was a little kid. He remembered watching the X-Jet rising up out of the basketball court and right then and there deciding that's what he wanted to be. He wanted to be a member of the X-Men. He wanted to be a real life superhero.

Bobby couldn't believe it when Logan handed him and Rogue each a uniform right before they arrived at Washington. The deep hurt of the events of the last few days…what happened at Boston, John betraying him, Jean dying, all those thoughts were temporarily pushed aside and all Bobby could think about was the enormous sense of pride he felt to be wearing an X-Men uniform and standing along side the rest of the team.

But now, it was time to do the actual work.

After changing, Bobby walked through the doors of the Danger Room and heard Scott's voice come from the control center.

"Alright Bobby, I want to test just how strong the force of your ice powers are." Scott began. "The wall in front of you is going to shoot out fire. I want you to hold it back for as long as you can."

"Fine." Bobby responded, his voice echoing in the large, round room.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

After he said that, Bobby heard the hissing noise of gas as he got ready and extended his arms, ready to release a blast of frost from his hands. His brain sent signals to his body that were lowering his body temperature.

The flame than flickered and Bobby released his ice just as fire shot out. The spray of frost gutted the flame, the moisture constantly being sucked from the air, coating his body in front, and then melting off. Bobby gritted his teeth at the heat as he sent out more ice from his hands, and the fire kept coming, continuing to test his endurance...

XXXXXXXXX

"Hey, John, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Bobby asked curiously as they sat at the long table in the dinning room, working on their history project together. After watching the X-Jet rise up out of the basketball court last night, the subject was just on his mind. 

"Well, gee Bobby, I wanted to be a fireman, and an astronaut, and a super hero." John replied sarcastically.

Bobby smiled. It's funny that he should mention that.

"You really could do that last part, you know."

"And spend my days wearing spandex, saving a world full of idiots? No thanks. That sounds like something you would do."

Bobby looked up and glared at John, but the other boy didn't notice as they now sat in silence and continued to do their work. 

Bobby was quickly brought back into reality when he fell to the ground, quickly pushing that memory out of his mind. He looked up to see that the fire had died down, and a voice came over the speaker again.

"That's enough for now Bobby, take a breather."

"Yes, sir." Bobby replied while getting back up and wiping the sweat from his brow.

Just as Bobby walked out of the room, Rogue was waiting outside Professor Charles Xavier's classroom, waiting for him to get done teaching his ethics class. As soon as the door opened and the kids walked out into the hallway, Rogue leaned in the doorframe and knocked to get the professor's attention.

"Rogue?" Xavier smiled when he saw her.

"Professor, can I talk to you?" Rogue asked.

"Certainly. Come on in."

Rogue walked in and closed the door behind her, then walked over and took a seat behind the professor's desk.

"What is it you need to talk to me about?"

"It's Bobby." Rogue began. "I'm just worried about him. With what happened at Boston with his parents, and then John leaving...I just think he needs someone to talk to, and he's been avoiding me lately. I kinda feel like we're drifting apart, actually."

Xavier nodded. He had been told about what happened in Boston from Ororo and when they all got back to the school from Alkali Lake, he had found out that John had left the school to join Erik. He really didn't like thinking about his former student. He sort of blamed himself for not helping John more, and for not guiding him, like he should have.

"Don't worry, Rogue." Xavier began. "I will speak with Bobby."

After all, he knew first hand what it was like to lose your best friend to a dark cause. Xavier could understand what the young man was feeling better than the others could.

Rogue smiled.

"Thank you, Professor."

Xavier returned the smile.

"Your welcome, Rogue."

XXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, John woke up in the abandoned warehouse they had been using as a hide-out. It was funny. The mansion was a shelter, a sanctuary, a safe haven. Now John was spending all his time in hide-outs and metal cave lairs and abandoned churches. Because of the fact that Magneto was a known, wanted terrorist they couldn't exactly check in to a Holiday Inn.

He rolled over in bed and his thoughts went back to the news reports on the Alcatraz break-in. John couldn't help it, but he felt guilty when they reported that some of the soldiers had died. Died from severe burns...died because of him.

Pyro was not a revolutionary as Magneto had said. Pyro was not a freedom fighter. Pyro is a terrorist. Now more than ever, John wished he didn't share a name with Pyro.

At the mansion, with the Professor, Bobby, Rogue, it had been his home…sort of. He didn't necessarily love being there, but he found out very quickly that he didn't like it here either. John wished he could just wake up. He never had a mother, but he remembered being fourteen, angry, snide, and how he opened up to Jean. He wished she was still alive to tell him he was welcome back anytime. John sat up in bed and suddenly felt his father's presence sitting right beside him, a cigarette dangling loosely from his lips.

John squeezed his eyes shut. 

"Got a light?" His father asked.

"You're dead." John replied out loud. "I watched you did in that hospital."

"You gonna give me a light or not?"

John sighed and took the lighter out of his pocket, lighting his father's cigarette. His father sucked the cigarette more fully into his mouth, than took a long drag off of it.

"What are you doing here?" John persisted, accustomed to his dad being quite dead.

"Maybe I just want my lighter back."

John put his lighter back in his pocket.

"It's not your lighter. Bobby bought it for me at a street vendor last summer."

"But the reason he bought it was 'cause you said you liked it and the reason you liked it was 'cause it looked like mine." His dad flashed his own lighter at John. The whirling hammerhead shark was embossed on the side, under the words 'Feeding Frenzy'.

"So why'd you need a light from me if you had that?" John asked.

His father placed the lighter back in his pocket and patted his son's knee.

"Ain't nothing works when you're dead. Enjoy it while it lasts, boy. You're coming down here soon. People don't get away with the things you've been doing, trust me."

John shook his head vigorously.

"No. No, it was Magneto. He made me do it. He made me burn those soldiers. They'll go after him!"

"My son, the genius," his dad responded. Death hadn't diminished the sarcasm in his voice. Oh how it hurt. "You're a born loser, Johnny. You're his fall guy. Just a pawn to be moved against those boys in that fancy mansion you ran away from."

"Pyro!"

John quickly snapped out of his daydream and his father disappeared into thin air.

"Yo, Pyro! Who the hell are you talking to in there!" The voice yelled as the doorknob rattled. John realized it was Toad yelling at him from the other side.

"What the hell do you want?" John yelled.

"The boss man wants to see you! Move your ass!" Toad then walked away from the door. John got to his feet and slipped his shoes on and threw on his leather jacket. He had only known the green skinned mutant for a few days and already disliked him.

John opened up his door and stepped out into the hallway, hearing noises coming from the cafeteria of the building, which had been turned into training room for the members of the Brotherhood. Mystique was just finishing a training exercise with Gambit. They were sparring and practicing wrestling holds on one another. Mystique was an expert in unarmed combat and was proficient in many styles of martial arts. Still she didn't neglect more Western methods of combat, such as boxing, fencing, and wrestling.

Today Mystique had taught Gambit several holds, which were useful for subduing a person while making them talk.

Gambit ducked when Mystique threw a kick at his head and grabbed her around the neck. She wrangled free of his latest attempt at a side headlock and spun around behind him gripping his arm and pushing his head forward in a half Nelson hold. Gambit struggled and then stopped. He became very still as though he was thinking of something. Mystique prepared herself whatever way he might try to break free. She gripped his arm tighter.

He suddenly threw his head back hitting Mystique in the throat. She released Gambit as she grasped for air. Gambit spun around and kicked Mystique in the face with a roundhouse kick. As Mystique was propelled forward, Gambit hooked his leg around hers effectively tripping her. Mystique went face first into the mat below.

Mystique jumped up and threw an elbow at Gambit, who threw up his arm to block. He jumped back and kicked at her with another roundhouse but Mystique used her forearms to block the kick. She went to hit him again but he grabbed her arm and lifted her up, then bent backwards and slammed Mystique down on her shoulders. Mystique got up and from her quick, snappish movements Gambit knew she was pissed. She was relentless in training and didn't accept being beaten easily.

But it was too late. Across the gym and training complex the other members of the Brotherhood had stopped what they were doing when they saw Gambit pin Mystique.

John too had gathered with the rest of the members he had helped break out. Psylocke, Quicksilver, and Avalanche were their names. The others who had been broken out were taken to a safer location as Magneto didn't think their powers were helpful in their "cause." Gambit just seemed to realize all the other members of the Brotherhood gathered around to watch them. And at that moment the furious, blue scaled woman struck him.

He landed on the mats and Mystique hurriedly flipped him over onto his stomach and caught his ankle in a standing ankle lock. She held the ankle, twisting it at an unnatural angle and pushing down on his knee. Gambit winced in pain and tried to push Mystique away with his other leg but she continued to hold on.

"What's going on in here? Why is no one doing their training?"

John turned around as he heard Magneto's voice behind him. Magneto looked over to see Mystique twisting Gambit's ankle painfully.

"Let him go, Raven." Magneto said, gently as though he understood her plight.

Mystique did so and Gambit got up and limped over to a chair.

John turned around to face Magneto.

"What did you want to see me about?" John asked.

"Ah, yes. I told the others last night, but you went to sleep so early I didn't get the chance. I want everyone to start training in hand to hand combat, it's important for all of you to be able to defend yourselves without using your power, especially you."

John narrowed his eyes.

"Why especially me?"

"Because your power is generated from an outside source. If you didn't have a mechanism to create fire for you, you would be defenseless in a fight, and that can't happen. I have asked Toad to teach you, he is a master in martial arts."

After Magneto walked away, John took a deep breath as he walked over towards the mats, his ego bruised a little. He looked over at Gambit still sitting in a chair, taking his foot out of his boot and rubbing his ankle. Gambit must have felt eyes on him because he looked up at John and smirked before nodding a greeting. John nodded back, with a guarded look in his eyes.

"Hey fire-boy!" Toad called.

John looked over to see Toad step up to the mat.

"Your turn."


	4. Ace of Flames

After moving his neck around, John stepped up on the mat as Toad began to circle him. He couldn't help it, but he felt a little nervous, not knowing what the other mutant was capable of. John wasn't a trained fighter, but he knew how to defend himself. That's what spending a lot of time on the streets, fending for yourself will do to you.

"Now let's see how well you can defend yourself fire-boy," Toad said while getting into a fighting stance and tossing the teen a pair of gloves. John glared at him, the nickname really starting to annoy him now.

After putting on a pair of gloves, John put his fists up waiting for the other mutant to make the first move.

Toad smirked at him, than in a flash his long tongue snapped out of his mouth and caught John around the ankle and pulled, bringing him down to the ground. John blinked in surprise and then quickly moved out of the way as Toad used his enhanced agility in launching himself high into the air and bringing his knee crashing down on the mat where John had previously been.

"What the hell are you doing? You're not supposed to use your powers!" He growled.

"Who ever said that?" Toad laughed.

"Magneto."

"Well he's not here now, is he?"

"Oh that's it." John dug in his pocket for his lighter but the long tongue came at him again, this time grabbing his wrist and throwing him across the mat, causing him to land hard on his chest. John gasped for air as he got back up, silently cursing his decision not to wear his wrist lighter. Toad suddenly came running at him and jumped into the air with a spin kick, John ducked and came back up with a punch to the other mutant's eye sending him stumbling backwards.

"That was pretty good," Toad remarked while rubbing his eye. "I guess I'm gonna have to start takin' this seriously."

"Bring it on." John responded.

Toad planted one foot on the floor and drove off of it, his elbow smashed into John's face and his weight knocked the pyromaniac off balance. John fell, but pulled Toad off his feet with him. Toad rolled over the other mutant, sinking his other elbow into his stomach, and rolled to his feet. John then came back with a shot to the ribs that knocked the air out of Toad, sending him doubling over gasping for air. He then balled up his fists and put his hands together, clubbing the other man in the back as hard as he could sending him down to the ground. Before he could capitalize, Toad sent his leg up and kicked John in the chest.

Toad nipped up but John quickly tackled him back to the ground. Their sparring session lasted another two or three minutes before Toad finally called a stop to it. He almost out of breath, surprised that the younger mutant had been able to keep up with him. John was kneeling on the ground catching his breath as Toad came over and extended his hand. He took it and Toad helped him to his feet.

"I must admit, I'm pretty impressed." Toad said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, your punches are really good. Next time we'll work on kicks and blocking better. You hit hard but you leave yourself open too often."

Toad patted John on the back as he walked off the mat and out of the training area. John took a deep breath as he walked over and sat down on one of the chairs.

"You okay?" Said a voice.

John looked up to see Gambit standing there before sitting down on the chair across from him.

"I'll live," he responded while rubbing his side. It kind of hurt but he had felt worse when he use to have occasional wrestling matches with Bobby Drake.

"That was kind of exciting." Remy smiled. "Your fight with the tadpole. It seemed like you were fighting more on emotion than anything."

"Oh yeah?" John responded while taking out his lighter and flipping it open.

Remy then took out a pack of cards from his trench coat pocket and began shuffling in the style of one who is terrifying familiar with cards in a way that would discourage a potential competitor from engaging in a game. John was immediately intrigued.

"You play, mon ami?" Remy asked.

"Play what?"

"Anything. Name it."

John couldn't help but laugh.

"I know a little poker, but Go Fish is really all I can play."

"I could teach you," Remy said, laying the cards on the table face-up, than flicking one side so that they all turned over.

"Teach me what?"

"Well, we could start with a little Fifty-two card pick up, poker doesn't work so well with just two. I think between two, War might be best, oui?" Remy asked, dealing with hands so quick they blurred.

"Actually, Gambit, I'm not really in the mood to play cards. Maybe later."

Remy stopped dealing and placed his cards back in his pocket.

"Alright," he said while standing up. He hand went back into his trench coat and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. "I'm headed to the bar, any interest in joining me for that?"

"I'm not twenty-one."

"So?"

John thought about. The last time he did anything social with anyone was going to that food court with Bobby and Rogue…and that didn't end very well. But what the hell, maybe getting out of the place with clear his mind a little, make him forget about those soldiers he burned.

"Alright, I'll go."

Remy smirked as he led the way out of the abandoned warehouse and together they walked down the street. John hooked his thumbs in his pockets before taking a quick glance at his teammate and decided to make small talk.

"So, where are you from?" John asked.

"New Orleans, mon ami. The filthy jewel of Louisiana." Remy answered. "You?"

"Australia."

"Really? You don't have an accent."

"I didn't spend anytime there. My parents moved to New York before my first birthday," he explained.

"Your parents still around?"

John made a small noise in his throat and Remy wondered if he had brought up a sensitive subject for the other boy.

"They're dead," he finally responded.

They remained quiet for as they continued walking, John could see the bar from the distance. He then looked over at Remy and looked at his sunglasses.

"Isn't it hard to see?" John said, remembering his red eyes that had no pupils.

"I see fine," Remy responded, "but now that you mention it…" Remy then took his black glasses off and placed them on John's nose then busted out laughing at the way John looked.

"Alright, Frenchy," John said, a smile forming on his face as he playfully pushed Remy's shoulder and gave the glasses back to him. After they arrived at the bar, Remy ordered a drink for both of them then soon took off to play a game of pool with three other guys in the corner while John remained seated at the bar. John shifted on the bar stool as he picked up the glass and brought the drink up to his lips. Just then, something on the television caught his attention. It was some kind of political advertisement.

"Hello, my name is Graydon Creed and I'm here to talk to you about the mutant problem."

John took out his lighter and flicked it open while staring at the screen as the man continued.

"Are you tried in living in fear, about the possibility of a mutant being able to read your mind? Or walk through the walls of your house? Or to be able to control metal? Then call your local congressman, and demand that they support the passing of the Mutant Registration Act and finally get this problem under control."

John hadn't noticed, but the flame in his lighter had grown bigger by the time the commercial had finished. Suddenly the bartender turned around and saw him and dropped the bottle he was holding.

"Holy shit! We've got a fuckin' mutant in here!" The bartender yelled. "Jerry, get your shot gun and blast him to hell!"

Feeling the fire grow and flare out, John narrowed his eyes as he sent it straight at the bartender, making his shirt catch on fire. He stumbled backward, hitting himself, trying to beat the fire out. John then made the fire go down until it caught onto the bartender's jeans and the man howled in pain. Meanwhile, Remy pulled his own deck of cards out from his trench coat pocket as the others who he was playing poker with jumped to their feet.

"Don't you guys want to the finish the game?" He asked while shuffling.

"Shut up, you idiot! There's a damn mutant in here!" One of the men shouted, his attention completely on John as the fire quickly spread to the walls and ceiling of the bar.

Looking over, John watched with rising interest as the card began to glow. Remy winked at him and threw it to the side, just a few feet away from the cluster of men, and two booths blew up in a burst of vinyl, splinters, and stuffing. Ignoring the shouts and cries from the others in the bar, John laughed while taking control of the fire again as his body temperature continued to go up, his heart rate quickening.

"Jerry get your ass out here!" The bartender yelled again through agony as he laid on the floor, just finished putting himself out.

A man quickly ran out from the back, a shot gun in his hands which he just finished loading. John heard a click of the gun behind him, and he whipped around with the flames in his hands until the shot gun melted and Jerry's hands caught fire. People in the corner had already fled. Now the men Remy had hung out with were scrambling, running for the door. Remy threw a card at their feet as a little something to remember him by, not a strong enough blast to do any real damage, just enough to light the seat of their pants. 

While this was happening, Jerry and the bartender must have ran out the back way of the building. Some of the other people who hadn't gotten out yet ran for the door and John took hold of the fire and snakes tendrils in dancing little circles around them, daring them to move. He then concentrates and makes the temperature of the fire hotter. Over the sound of the crackling flames he hears Remy's voice, but can't make out what he's saying. 

The fire has all of his attention.

They're screaming and he smells their skin starting to burn. Pyro remembered Boston. He remembered Alcatraz and burning the soldiers, he remembered the sound of their screams. Remy's eyes widened as he watched the people in front of him trapped in a ring of fire, screaming as the fire scorched up and burned them. He quickly leaped up onto the bar and ran across it. Once he landed on the floor he grabbed a hold of John.

John was still not paying any attention to him as Remy again yelled something at him. When Remy realized he still couldn't get him to listen, he yanked him away and took another card from his pocket, blowing up the side of the wall making an exit for the two of them. Behind them the fire still burns and he's controlling it until Remy slammed John against a wall a block away.

"Put it out," he hissed.

The sirens are already wailing and thick black smoke is climbing toward the sky. John felt the fire and looked at Remy.

Remy didn't look scared, but it's something close. John couldn't focus on him, couldn't focus on anything but fanning the distant fires.

Pyro was having too much fun.

John felt himself shook by Remy again but he still didn't pay the other mutant any attention. There were buildings close to the one he's burning. He could take out the whole row. The whole block. Burn it all down, burn it all to hell. For the first time since blowing up the cop cars at the Drake house, he feels something dangerous and inhuman. It's easy, it's easier than feeling like nothing. He'd forgotten that. Finally, he looked into Remy's red eyes before finally putting the fire out. Remy glared at him and grasped his wrist tightly pulling him down the sidewalk with him and all the way back to their hideout. John's heart beats fast as the all too familiar rush of excitement stays with the whole way.

Finally, they got back to the abandoned warehouse and John felt himself flung into a wall again, Remy's hands on either side of his head, trapping him where he stood.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Remy hissed, angry. John lifted his head and grinned. Anger towards him was familiar and almost welcome. "You are a god damn lunatic," he finished.

"Fuck them," John snapped and pushed Remy away from him. "They were just fucking humans. They deserved what they got, they aren't one of us."

He heard Magneto in his voice. The disdain. The hate.

"And as I recall, you where getting in on it too." He continued.

"I wasn't trying to burn people alive. You were going way too far." Remy responded as he ran his fingers through his hair then looked back towards the younger mutant. "What are we that they are not, Pyro?"

John smirked when Remy said his name...his real name as Magneto said.

Pyro burns things. Pyro is a terrorist. Pyro is a murderer. Anger is Pyro. He can tell that none of that is Remy and there's some surge of triumph in bringing him down to his level.

"What are we that they're not?" Remy repeats when he doesn't answer.

"We're better than they are. They're just pieces of trash, they don't believe in shit-"

"What do you believe, Pyro?" Remy cut him off. "In a cause that has gained mutants nothing but more suspicion? You do not even know what you are, and you condemn them for being less."

John's face twisted as he glared at his teammate.

"Get the hell away from me," he growled before he tried to walk away but Remy grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

"It's you who knows nothing!" Remy shouted as his accent thickens. "You say that you're better, but I can tell you don't believe it. You think I haven't seen you over the past few days? You think I have not seen what you are? What you do?"

"You don't know shit about me!" John yelled.

"Because there is nothing to know! You do not even know what you are!"

John straightened up and glared at the older mutant.

"Like you're any better. I remember helping break your ass out of prison, remember that?"

"I know who I am. How about you?"

Remy then backed away from him.

"You don't know how much danger you've put yourself in. Now they're gonna come after you."

There was something in his voice that John didn't recognize.

"Yeah? What'd you care?"

Remy gave him one last look before backing away and walking down the hall to his room while shaking his head, not even bothering to respond. John looked after him until he was out of the sight and he heard the sound of a door close. He then realized what the other mutant had expressed towards him.

Concern.

That's what it is.


	5. Painful Decisions

It was going 5 p.m. and the sun was starting to go down as Bobby and Rogue stepped out from the movie theater, it was the first thing that they had done with just them together in months. Bobby had just returned from a weekend at his parent's house in Boston, the first time he'd seen them since he had revealed being a mutant. Rogue took in the cool air, happy that the two of them had finally done something alone together. Going to the movies was their favorite thing to do in the past, expect this time there was nobody who purposely sat behind them and threw popcorn at them throughout the movie.

She then shook her head and reminded herself not to think about him as she walked with her boyfriend back to the mansion.

"So," she began, trying to make some kind of conversation. "How did things go with your parents?"

"Fine." Bobby answered.

Rogue sighed.

"And…?"

"There's not much else to say really. You heard my mom when we where there. She said they still loved me even though I am a mutant and they do."

"Did you get a chance to talk to your brother?"

"Not really," he shrugged. "I only saw him maybe twice, I think he was trying to avoid me. Ronny and me, we were never really that close. I mean, I liked having a little brother and all, but…I don't know."

Rogue frowned when she the mansion coming into view. She wanted to talk to Bobby, really talk like they use to. She wanted to tell him they she was happy with him and they should stop feeling guilty about John leaving, that it wasn't their fault. That chance was slipping away as they walked inside.

"See you tomorrow." Bobby simply said and began to walk toward the elevator.

"Bobby," she said while lightly grabbing his wrist, stopping him from walking away. "I think we really need to talk."

"Not now." Bobby responded while gently removing her hand from his wrist and made his way to the elevator, taking it up to the bedrooms.

Rogue looked down at the floor. She then thought;

'Not now, he say's. Then when?'

When Bobby arrived at his room he walked over and sat on his bed. He then looked over at the empty bed next to his. He remembered days where he would trip over clothes because his roommate was so messy or loud music playing when he was trying to do schoolwork and sometimes longed for his own room. Now, having his own room wasn't as great as he thought it would be. Last Friday, Bobby was more than surprised when the Professor called him into his office and told him that he should go to Boston over to weekend to see his family. He was pretty insistent about it too.

He made sure to call first, making sure that it was alright for him to come down before hopping on a bus, taking it to his home.

When Bobby arrived, he first noticed the burn marks in the grass on the front lawn, where the cop cars had been blown up. He later found out that John was a wanted man in Boston, and they had his description in the papers. When he walked into the house, his mom and dad both hugged him, neither one brining up what happened the last time he was here. The issue of him being a mutant was never brought up either. As for Ronny, he only really saw him at dinner time, and Bobby really believed that his parents had to force him to come down to eat with all of them.

It was an awkward visit, for all of them. And when the weekend ended and Bobby left the house to catch the bus, he knew things between him and his family would never be the same again…

Just then, a knock on the door brought Bobby back to reality.

"Who is it?" He called.

"It's me, open up." Rogue called.

Bobby rolled his eyes and got up to open the door only to look surprised that Rogue was standing there with Peter, Kitty, and Jubilee.

"What do you guys want?"

"The professor wants to see us," Peter said.

"What for?"

"We don't know, come on."

The five of them walked down the stairs and reached the professor's office. They walked in to see Xavier sitting behind his desk. Scott, Logan, Ororo, Kurt, and Hank McCoy stood around him. Hank had agreed to take over Jean's classes until the end of the semester.

"Good evening," Xavier smiled.

"Professor," Bobby greeted.

"What did you need to see us about?" Rogue asked.

"I wanted to talk to all about something rather important," he began. "As you know, our number one priority is apprehending Magneto and turning him back over to the authorities. And with the latest attack on Alcatraz, I have no doubt that he is planning something."

"Just tell them already, Chuck," Logan spoke up, sounding bored.

"I want you five to start training in the Danger Room. After our unfortunate loss at Alkali Lake…"

Scott stiffened after the professor said that.

"We are going to need some new members. Each day, Scott or Ororo will be supervising you. That is, if you are up to it."

Rogue gazed upon the Professor for a few seconds as thoughts came to her mind.

Wouldn't joining the team mean actually fighting against Magneto and his Brotherhood. Fighting John?

"We'll do it professor." Peter said, then looked over at his friends who nodded in agreement.

"Professor, if you're so worried about Magneto why don't you just use your powers to find him?" Kitty asked. "I know because of his helmet, but why not try to track Mystique or Pyro? Wherever they are, Magneto is."

Bobby and Rogue both looked at each other when Kitty mentioned John's name. Xavier then gave the same answer to her as he did Bobby when he asked the same question.

"It's a good idea Kitty, but I'm afraid my telepathy alone is not that strong. They are miles away from here and only Cerebro could tell me they're location. And because of Stryker, it is no longer working, and I think it's for the best."

After all, the machine nearly killed every living person on the planet.

"So, if there are no more questions, you can go back to what you were doing," Xavier finished.

After that, they walked out of the professor's office. Rogue quickly walked over to Bobby.

"Good night," Bobby said as he saw her.

"I want you to break up with me."

Bobby's eyes widened in shock.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You don't love me," Rogue said as if she were trying to convince herself of it. "I'm letting you go."

"You think you can just…I care about you!"

"I won't think any less of you." She couldn't summon up the energy to cry. "No one will. Please, just go."

Rogue quickly walked away from him as Bobby could only just stand there in bewilderment.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Would you care to explain this to me?"

John was currently standing in the room Magneto had turned into his makeshift office and he had the television turned on. It was on the channel of a news station and the reporter was talking about the bar John had set on fire the previous night. John winced when they started giving out a description of him and talking about his mutant powers. It didn't mention Gambit at all. Magneto then shut the television off and turned to him.

"Well?" He asked.

"It was just something that got out of hand." John sighed.

"I specifically told you that if you went out to keep a low profile. What would have happened if you had managed to get yourself caught last night? You would have messed everything up."

John's eyes went to the floor. He had no response.

"Because of this, I'm afraid that you'll no longer be allowed to leave the facility." Magneto said, causing John's head to snap back up.

"What? Until when?"

"We'll be going up to Canada soon. You can go outside then."

'Fucking fantastic.' John thought to himself as he turned and walked out of the room, knowing it was no use to argue with Magneto. He shook his head as he headed for the training area, the talk and punishment he just got was like being at Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters all over again. When he walked in he saw Gambit shuffling a deck of cards as he moved around the room. Gambit turned around and smirked when he saw John and nodded a greeting. John continued to watch him, wondering if the other mutant was still angry at him for what he did at the bar. Gambit flipped a card over his head and landed in the other hand and kept moving across the room.

He followed Gambit and glanced around the room while walking, seeing Quicksilver and Avalanche training together and Juggernaut in the far corner, lifting weights. John stopped in front of the chair Gambit sat down at, and was putting on his fingerless gloves.

"Gambit." John greeted.

"Pyro." Remy responded without looking up.

"You still mad about the other night?"

"No."

The pyromaniac lifted an eyebrow in surprise.

"Really?"

"Why should I be mad? I'm not the one they're talking about in the news."

"How nice for you."

Remy chuckled a little as he got to his feet.

"Anyway, feel like training mon ami?" He asked while stepping on the mats.

"Why not?" John shrugged. He didn't have anything better to do. He walked up with him and attached his wrist lighter, not wanting to make the same mistake he did against Toad.

Remy and John each got into a stance, waiting for the other to make the first move.

John then quickly threw a punch at Remy but he dodged it and tried a leg sweep at John who jumped to avoid it. They kept throwing punches and kicks, blocking and jumping back.

"You're not bad," Remy panted.

"Back at you…" John responded, breathing just as heavily.

"Let's kick it up a notch!"

Gambit pulled his metal staff out and Pyro quickly formed a fireball in his hand.

Pyro flung a fire wave which Gambit dodged. He quickly charged his staff and swung it at Pyro who ducked and quickly came back with a fire arrow. Gambit leaped out of the way as the fire arrow came flying towards him and clipped Pyro's ankle with his staff. Pyro fell to the ground but when Gambit came over him, he sent a foot up to Gambit's stomach, knocking him backwards. Pyro got back to his feet and formed another fireball. The fireball however wasn't strong enough to hurt him badly or set him ablaze because Pyro didn't want to kill Gambit.

Gambit quickly pulled out a few playing cards and charged them up, throwing them at Pyro's feet. Pyro danced backwards as they hit the ground and exploded until one was strong enough to take him off the ground.

Pyro then rolled to his stomach, lunging a few fireballs at Gambit who dodged them with ease at the patterns he shot them but was then hit in the shoulder.

"WOAH!" Gambit shouted not expecting what happened, and got knocking to the ground.

Pyro threw a kick when Gambit got back up, but Gambit caught his foot and punched him in the chest. Pyro charged at Gambit again, but stopped and tricked Gambit into punching at him again. Pyro jumped back to avoid the punch and then kicked Gambit in the stomach and then punched him to the ground.

"Okay you're done!" Gambit yelled getting up. He then had a card in his hand and then threw it to Pyro. Pyro quickly and threw fireball at the incoming card and they both hit simultaneously, creating a larger explosion.

Everyone in the training area including Gambit and Pyro looked on in amazement before Pyro got a hold of himself and went to form another fireball but Gambit put his hands up.

"Okay…okay…draw," Gambit panted.

"Yeah...I agree." Pyro said.

Now that it was over, John dropped down to one knee to catch his breath. After a few seconds of allowing himself to breathe normally again, he turned over his hand, looking down at his wrist lighter and realized that he had managed to control himself throughout the entire 'fight'. He didn't go overboard and let the rush of using his powers effect him like it always did anytime he began using the fire. Before he could think anymore about it, Remy walked over and offered him his hand, which John took.

"You hungry?" Remy asked.

"Yeah, I could eat." John responded.

"Come on, there's some food in the kitchen."

Remy and John left the training area together went to the kitchen, getting themselves breakfast. When they sat down, Remy took out his cards.

"Wanna play?"

"You'll cheat."

"You don't know the rules anyway, you don't care."

That was a good point.

John took another drink from his orange juice, swallowed, and then smiled. "I don't have much money, what do you want to bet?"

"Remy doesn't need to play for money. Remy finds money elsewhere. Remy plays for fun."

"That's really annoying."

"What?"

"Talking about yourself in the third person. Especially when you use your human name."

Remy grinned.

"Fine, I'll stop."

"Deal, Gambit. And no fancy pyrotechnics."

"You make enough of those."

Remy's fingers were sure as he dealt the cards, all blurred movement and confidence. John didn't bother to hide his grin.


	6. Moving On

Mr. President, I don't think you realize the threat these creatures pose."

President McKenna sighed as he sat at his desk, Graydon Creed in front of him. This was now the third time this month the senator had requested to meet with him.

"Senator Creed," President McKenna replied slowly. "I've told you no. I'm not supporting any registration act of any kind. It's bad for the public!"

Graydon slammed his hands down on the president's desk.

"Have you not heard the reports? Riots! Attacks! Assassination attempts! Have you forgotten the attack on Alcatraz? These mutants aren't looking for peace with us; they're trying to kill all of us! If we don't act quickly, we'll be the dead ones!"

The President breathed slowly through his nose and stared up at the man.

"Do you understand that mutants are roughly half the population of this country?" He asked.

Graydon laughed a little.

"Mr. President," he started, and after a pause added, "If we don't do anything, there won't be a population at all."

"But it's not logical!" McKenna responded.

"Not logical? Sir, we're talking about preventing a war! A possible world war! America isn't the only country with mutants!"

"I'm well aware of that," the President snapped.

"Then let's stop pussy-footing around and finally do what needs to be done."

They had a small battle of glares until finally the president leaned back in his chair again and sighed.

"I'm sorry Graydon, but my mind's made up. We'll handle Magneto like we handle any other terrorist."

"Fine," Graydon replied and headed for the door. He opened it and looked back at President McKenna one final time. "When more blood is spilt, it will be on your hands."

XXXXXXXXX

"Somethin' wrong, mon ami?"

John's whole body tensed as he heard Gambit's lyrical accent as the other man came up the stairs to join him.

After the sun went down, John had gone to the top floor of the abandoned warehouse and opened up the windows, letting the cool air hit his face. He just needed a place to think.

"Nah, just needed some air. And I can't go outside." He responded, remembering Magneto's punishment.

"So you're just up here hiding in the dark?"

"I'm not hiding," he snapped. Wanting to change the subject, he took a quick glance at Gambit. He was wearing his usual tan trench coat and fingerless gloves. "Aren't you cold? It's freezing up here."

"You're not even wearing a jacket." Gambit pointed out.

"I have a high body temperature because of my powers," John said evenly. "It keeps me warm."

"That must be nice." Gambit responded as he looked at the sky. "You know, I'm a little embarrassed to admit…I don't even know your name."

"Yeah you do, I told you."

"Well, you told me 'Pyro', what's your real name, mon ami?"

At first John wanted to tell the other mutant that Pyro was his real name, as Magneto had told him back on the X-Jet. Oh, that seemed like such a long time ago, even though it had been no more than a month since Alkali Lake. He had stopped counting the days. He continued to watch the stars, enjoying the feeling of the air going through his hair before taking a deep breath and finally answering.

"John. My name is John Allerdyce."

Gambit smiled.

"John. That is a good name. Like the King. The bathroom. The Saint and the Baptist."

John snorts.

"Don't tell me you're the church type."

"Na, I've never been to church."

John didn't notice at first, but Gambit had stuck out his hand.

"My name is Remy LeBeau."

"I know. I saw it on your chart."

"I just thought I'd be nice if we were properly introduced."

"Fine."

The pyromaniac turned towards his teammate and the two shook hands.

"Nice to meet you, John Allerdyce." Gambit smiled.

"Likewise."

"Hey! You two!" A gruff voice then yelled.

John and Remy spun around to see Sabertooth standing there.

"Magneto wants to see all of us! Move it!"

John and Remy walked back down the steps to the location of Magneto's office and saw that it was crammed with all the other members. Once Magneto saw that everyone was here he pointed to the television in the corner of the room.

"Everyone's attention here, please."

Magneto played for them the political advertisement John had seen at that bar. Out of the corner of his eye, John saw Mystique stiffen a little. Before the commercial ended, Magneto paused it and pointed to the screen.

"He is the new target," he said, referring to Graydon Creed. He turned his chair and addressed the rest of the Brotherhood.

"Mystique has discovered that Mr. Creed is developing some sort of virus that will apparently affect mutants only. His organization has several locations, two in Canada, one in Washington D.C."

Magneto then looked to Mystique and she continued for him.

"Since time is an issue, we are going to split into two groups." Mystique said then glanced at Juggernaut. "Juggernaut, Toad, Avalanche, and Quicksilver, you will be going with Erik up to Quebec."

Mystique then looked towards the others.

"Sabertooth, Pyro, Gambit, and Psylocke, you will all be coming with me up to Ontario."

John quickly glanced at Remy, happy that they were both on the same team. Magneto than starting speaking again before he could see the Cajun's reaction.

"If any of you find Graydon Creed, I want him alive. If we find nothing, we will regroup in a location I have given Raven and make our stop to the final location in D.C. If there are no questions, you all may be dismissed."

Remy grinned and elbowed John playfully as they left the room.

"Sound's like our first mission, mon ami."

"Yeah." John simply responded, not sharing the Cajun's enthusiasm.

Great, more destruction to be caused. Just another opportunity for him to lose it again.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The Danger Room clicked and whirred to a stop as Bobby stopped in his tracks, panting heavily as the room soon cleared of any evidence that a battle had just taken place between man and machine.

"Simulation complete," said the computer's voice.

Bobby slumped against the wall and wiped sweat from his forehead. When he finally got his breath back he formed a piece of ice in his hand placed it against his head to help cool him off, and walked out of the training dome back to the dressing room. Absentmindedly, he wondered what Rogue was doing right now. It had been two days since Rogue ended things with him, or rather told him to break up with her. In between juggling class work, Bobby had also been going to Danger Room sessions and training in hand to hand combat with Scott. He liked training, because it completely took his mind off everything, stopped him from thinking about things…like John, Professor Grey, his mom, dad, Ronny.

So many people, so many painful memories…they all faded away when he was caught up in the raw, adrenaline rush of fighting for his survival in the cold, metallic, round room.

As he took of his X-Men uniform and changed into his black shirt and jeans, he heard the door open and of all people, Rogue walked into the room. She didn't even seem to notice him as he walked over to where the uniforms were held.

"Hi," he said.

Rogue jumped and looked over at him. She smiled and nodded, silently taking one of the uniforms out of the glass case.

"So, are we not allowed to talk anymore?"

"Sorry," she smiled and turned back to him. "Good morning, Bobby."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm having a training session with Logan."

Bobby nodded, than became a little worried.

"Does he know about…us?"

"Yes, I told him," Rogue said. Bobby was about to say something but she cut him off. "Don't worry, I said that it was my idea. So he isn't gonna do anything to you."

She smiled as her now ex-boyfriend breathed a sigh of relief.

"So, I guess you were serious about wanting to break up."

Rogue nodded.

"Yeah, I think it's for the best. I still would like to be friends though."

"Me too. Hey, can we talk when you get done with your session?"

"Sure. I'll be done in a half hour."

While waiting for Rogue, Bobby got a drink from the refrigerator and walked to the student lounge and sat down on the couch. As he took a sip from his soda bottle, he looked over at the small table in the corner. After getting done with classes for the day, Bobby and John were sitting in the student lounge facing each other, in the middle of an arm wrestling match.

"You're goin' down," said John.

"Why are you talking to yourself?" Bobby asked.

But soon, John overpowered him and pinned his arm.

"Can I try?" Said a very familiar voice.

John smirked as Rogue came into the room.

"No," he responded rudely. "Girls can't arm wrestle."

"I'll agree with John on that one," Bobby said.

Now, hearing something like that from John, didn't shock Rogue at all. But from her boyfriend that was another thing. He should know better than to insult a girl.

"What's the matter John?" Rogue asked. "Frightened that I'll beat ya?"

"Yeah right," John responded. "I just beat Bobby."

"I wouldn't boast about that," came Pitor's voice.

"Shut up Pitor," Bobby said.

John glanced at Bobby and nodded for him to get up.

"Fine, have a seat."

Rogue took the seat that was once occupied by Bobby, and took John's hand in hers. Soon the match began and John was winning.

"Am I hurting you Roguey?" The pyromaniac asked. 

"Nope, not really."

John's eyes than widened when he felt Rogue's foot was rubbing against his. Rogue then rubbed her foot up and down his leg. 

She grinned at his distraction and pinned his arm down.

"I won," Rogue smiled.

"You cheated!" John yelled, still slightly in shock.

Rogue got up to leave but turned back to him.

"I think you learned two things today. A girl can do anything a guy can do, and we always use our sexuality to get anything we want."

Bobby looked at John and smiled but John hit his arm.

"Ow!"

"Don't say a word to me, Bobby."

"Bobby," suddenly said a voice. He came out of his daydream and looked up to see Rogue standing there.

"I thought you had a session?" Bobby asked.

"I did, I'm finished," Rogue said, looking a little amused.

Bobby looked over at the clock on the wall and shook his head. Damn, had it been a half hour already?"

"Come on," she said.

He got up and followed her outside. Rogue took his hand in her gloved on and they started walking in the garden that Ororo kept.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Rogue asked.

"It was about that night."

"What night?"

"The night we came back from the movies," he sighed. "If you still feel the same way, that's fine. But, how could you say that I don't love you?"

"I'm sorry," Rogue responded. "I was just upset. That night when we came back from the movies, I wanted to talk to you and after you blew me off…"

"I didn't mean to."

"I know."

They continued walking and Rogue took a deep breath.

"It's not our fault that John left. It was his decision, and his decision alone."

"I know…it's not that I lose sleep over it but…it's still hard," Bobby admitted. Everyday he got up he looked over at the empty bed next to his and it was a reminder of his former best friend.

"It's hard for me too, it's still hard for everyone since Alkali Lake. Everything changed that day. Everything happened so fast, with your parents and then John leaving, Jean dying," she listed.

"Us becoming X-Men." Bobby finished.

She nodded and they stopped walking.

"I have an idea," Rogue said as she dug into her pocket. A second later she pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it. Bobby looked down and recognized the handwriting. It was John's letter to her.

Rogue then took a small blue lighter out of her other pocket.

"You want to burn it?"

"Wouldn't that just be…right, somehow?" Rogue said. After all, why keep it? All it was John's bitter and angry remarks about how he felt like they treated him like nothing but a third wheel. It wasn't the words of the John that they had known.

"All right," Bobby and took the letter and the lighter. "I'll do it."

He flicked the lighter on and touched the corner of the paper to the flame. It catches slowly, at first, and begins to blaze, a faint hissing sound reaches their ears. Bobby sat the paper down on the ground and he and Rogue backed away, watching it burn away until it's only ash. Somehow, doing this gave them both some sort of feeling of closure. Somehow…it just fit. Made things right.

Rogue and Bobby would still miss him. They knew that he'll change, they would change, they'll never be the same people they were. But they would be okay. They could say that now. It was time to accept reality and move on.

And this was moving on.


	7. Infiltration

The upside of being in Canada meant John could finally go outside and breath in the cool air and watch the sky, what he usually did when he just wanted to relax and not think about anything. The bad news was he was on another mission, and it was only a matter of time before he would become Pyro. Only a matter of time before the fire took control of him. John was sitting at the chair by the air conditioning in the hotel room he was sharing with Remy. His hand went into his pocket and grasped the shark lighter but he fought the urge to take it out and stare at the flame.

He fidgeted more in the chair, an uncomfortable silence in the room. Oh, was it hard to ignore something he wanted so badly. It was like he was a junky desperately waiting for his next fix. John squeezed his eyes closed as he gripped the arms of the chair so hard his knuckles began to turn white. He wanted to burn something. He wanted to watch something go up in flames.

"Think about something else," he whispered to himself as he moved even more in the seat, like he was struggling in a straight jacket.

"Uh…are you okay, mon ami?" A voice said.

John's eyes snapped open to see Remy standing over him with a look of confusion and a little amusement.

"Fine," he snapped.

"You look like you're on some kind of bad drug," the other mutant remarked as he went to go sit on his bed. John glanced at the floor as he could feel Remy's eyes still on him.

"What time does Mystique want to see us?" John asked.

"A few minutes." Remy answered as he pulled his trench coat on.

John then cleared his throat.

"Remy…can I ask you something?"

Remy smirked at the pyromaniac.

"Sure."

"When you use your powers." John began slowly, unsure of how to put this. "Do you ever lose control of yourself?"

"What did you mean by that?"

"I don't know. Sometimes when I start using my powers, it's hard for me to stop. And I figured since our powers are similar-"

"I can't control fire, mon ami," Remy cut him off.

"Right, but we can both blow shit up."

Remy smirked.

"I guess you're right there."

"I just wondered if you get the same feeling I do. It's just like a rush, when I start burning things. Sometimes it's hard to control."

"You seemed to be in control when we were training together."

"That was different."

"How so?"

John thought about it for a moment, staring at his teammate. Fortunately, he didn't have to answer as someone knocked on the door. Remy got up to answer it and saw that it was Psylocke.

"It's time," she simply said.

Remy nodded and John got to his feet. The three of them walked together to the room that Mystique and Sabertooth were sharing and walked inside.

"Alright everyone," Mystique said when she saw that everyone was in the room. "Attention here," she said as she pointed to several photographs on the bed. "This is the facility for the "Friends of Humanity." That's what the call themselves," she scoffed. "We are going in to see if there is any more information about the mutant virus I overheard while I was in Washington. And this place may be using mutants as test subjects."

When Mystique got done explaining the mission, the five of them headed to the helicopter they took to get here. John was quiet during the helicopter ride, going over and over the mechanics of their mission. He wasn't terribly worried about his part of this plan, he was just nervous about loosing it like he did at Boston, at Alcatraz, at the bar. He was worried about putting his teammates in jeopardy. Mystique was to go inside and look around while Pyro and Gambit watched the parking lot. Sabertooth was to watch the back door of the building and Psylocke was to land the helicopter on top of the building and wait there. If she found any mutants being held, Mystique would instruct the three waiting outside to enter.

People will die. John was sure of it. Guards that worked at the building, they probably have families, kids. Someone who loves them.

He was soon snapped out of his thoughts when the helicopter landed and they began to get out. He attached his wrist lighter and Mystique handed them all earpieces. Psylocke dropped them off away from the building and took it all the way up to the roof. Mystique led the rest of them team through the bushes until they reached the gates of the facility.

"Any questions, ask them now." Mystique said.

No one said a word and she nodded and everyone went to the place they were told to go. Mystique easily scaled over the chain link fence and landed on the other side. She silently walked over to where the guard outside was walking back and forth. He suddenly heard a noise and spun around to see Mystique standing behind him.

"Oh shit!" The guard yelled as he raised his night stick but Mystique nailed him with a roundhouse kick that broke his neck and he crumbled to the ground. She grabbed his arms and pulled him over to the bushes, hiding his body, than transformed herself into the guard she just killed and entered the building.

"What are you doing in here?" Another guard by the desk as she walked in.

"Bathroom," she replied.

"Don't take too long."

Mystique nodded and went down the hallway seeing a sign with the word 'bathrooms' on it with a sigh pointing to the left, but she went the opposite direction and turned into her normal self. She finally came across an office and walked in. She walked behind the desk in the middle of the room and sat down. There was a blue folder on top which she picked up and opened. Mystique began reading the one of the pages silently to herself.

"However, if it did detect the X-gene, it would begin inserting introns into the transcription codings of the victim's mutant RNA, the process being triggered after the patient used their powers for the first time after contracting the disease, causing it's host's powers to flare out of control."

Outside, Pyro was watching the parking lot when a limousine that was being led by a police car entered and parked. He looked at the limo and a man in a suit with blonde hair and black glasses exited. Pyro recognized him immediately.

"Graydon Creed is here," he said into the earpiece.

That was all Sabertooth needed to here as he began approaching the back door of the building and began pounding on it. A guard patrolling the end of the building heard the banging on the door and took out his nightstick and approached it. His breath was caught in his throat as he got closer to the door when the banging stopped. The guard swallowed nervously and twisted the door handle open to see nobody outside. He breathed a sigh of relief and was about to turn back around when he heard a roar and was grabbed around the throat.

Sabertooth held the guard high over his head before snapping his neck like a tooth pick and tossed him away like a rag doll and entered the building.

After hearing Pyro's warning, Mystique changed into her appearance of the guard she killed and placed the folder into his shirt and exited the office. She walked to the elevator and took it up to the second floor, to see if the building was holding any mutant's prisoner.

"How you doing Andy," Graydon greeted the guard when he entered the building with Bolivar Trask and several officers behind him.

"Mr. Creed," the guard responded.

"Tell me, Graydon. What is the origin of the virus of yours?" Trask asked as he walked with the other man down the hall.

"It comes from a mutant we are holding here. His body has the ability to secrete pheromones that are referred to as 'death spores.'"

Graydon opened the door to his office and walked in.

"When the president sees on the news of mutants loosing control of their powers because of a virus being passed along between them, he'll have no choice but to declare a state of emergency."

"You think that this will work?" Trask asked.

"It will," Graydon promised. "I have all the information here," he pointed to the desk but didn't see the folder there. "Where the hell is it?"

"Where's what?"

"A folder, I had a folder here," Graydon went around to the other side of the desk and looked in the drawers but saw nothing. Graydon exited the office and stumbled back in shock when he saw who was coming down the hall. Sabertooth stopped walking and smiled when he saw him.

"Hello kiddo."

"Stop him!" Graydon shouted at the cops as Sabertooth marched down the hall, the only thing on his mind was ripping Graydon into pieces. One of the cops pulled out his gun and fired, hitting large mutant in the shoulder but he only roared and lunged forward, slicing his wrist with his claws making him drop the gun. The other hand slashed his throat making the cop fall to the ground, clutching at his neck which was spurting out blood. Graydon took off back to the entrance of the building while the rest of the guards kept fighting against the savage mutant who had broken in. 

"We have an emergency! Send back up!" Another cop shouted into his radio before he fired at Sabertooth.

From the second floor of the building looking around for the mutant test subjects, Mystique stopped walking when she heard gunfire from the floor below her. She instantly knew something was not going according to plan.

"What's going on?" Mystique asked into the earpiece. But no on responded.

Back downstairs, Sabertooth finished up with all the cops and walked into the office to see a man in a suit cowering in the corner. He looked absolutely terrified at the presence of the tall mutant standing before him.

"I'm…I'm warning you," Trask began. "I'm Bolivar Trask, the Secretary of Defense."

Still, that didn't stop Sabertooth.

"I work for the President of the United States! If you harm me…you'll be put to death!"

Sabertooth grabbed Trask by his tie and pulled him to his feet. He grinned sadistically and ran his clawed hand down the other man's face, enough to feel it but not enough to leave a mark. Trask looked at the hand on his face in wide eyed fear before Sabertooth took it away and let go of his tie. He felt a little relieved as the mutant backed away a little, thinking he was going to let him live. But then suddenly Sabertooth lunged forward and slashed Trask across the face. He screamed out in pure agony as he fell to the floor, clutching his face as blood ran from five claw marks.

Outside, Graydon quickly ran to his parked limo and jumped inside.

"Get me the hell out of here!" He screamed at his driver.

The driver quickly hung up his cell phone and started the engine, putting his foot on the gas. As the limo approached the entrance of the parking lot, a line of fire emerged from out of no where, cutting the car off. The driver watched in awe as the fire shot up, creating a wall of flames. Graydon too was stunned by what he was seeing but quickly regained his bearings.

"Go through it!" He shouted.

"Are you crazy!" The driver yelled back.

Pyro then send another fireball out, melting the tires off the limo in front of him, insuring that Graydon Creed wasn't going anywhere. Gambit then walked over and put his hand on the door handle of the limo. He charged it up and let go making the back door explode. Gambit reached in and pulled Graydon out by his ankle.

"Let go of me you damn mutant!"

"Shut your mouth," Gambit responded as Pyro came over and lifted him up while Gambit pulled out his staff. He charged it up and pointed the end of it against Graydon's throat. "Don't move Senator, unless you want your head to explode. You ever see the movie 'Scanners?'" 

He didn't say a word after that, when suddenly Gambit and Pyro heard Mystique's voice in their earpieces.

"Pyro, Gambit, anyone. Come in," Mystique said.

"I hear you Mystique, we've got the Senator," Gambit responded.

"That's good, but I found three mutant test subjects but I can't get the doors open. I need Pyro up on the second floor to melt the locks."

Pyro looked over at Gambit and he nodded.

"Go ahead, mon ami, I've got this covered."

"Alright."

Pyro ran towards the facility and made his way through the front entrance. He ran down the hall and stopped in his tracks when he saw several police officers lying on the floor, motionless. He quickly got over his surprise and ran towards the elevator, taking it up to the second floor. When Pyro got out of the elevator he saw far down the hall Mystique arguing with Sabertooth.

"I can't believe you would do something so stupid, you could have jeopardized our whole mission!" Mystique yelled.

"To hell with missions, I want that little bastard." Sabertooth snarled.

"You have to learn to put personal feelings aside, Victor," Mystique scowled.

Pyro joined the two of them and looked towards the door which had the name "The Blob" on it. He burned the lock off and Sabertooth pushed the door opened They walked into the room to see a grossly overweight mutant with a Mohawk strapped to the bed.

"He looks dead to me," Sabertooth said.

Mystique felt his pulse.

"He is."

The three exited the room and went to the next with the word "Callisto" on the front. Pyro did the same to the door and they went in to see a female mutant with chains around her wrists and ankles. She looked frail and drugged.

"Don't worry, we're here to help you," Mystique said as Sabertooth ripped the chains off. "Take her to the helicopter Victor, we'll get the last one."

Sabertooth picked Callisto up in his arms and carried her to the stairway up to the roof where Psylocke was waiting with the helicopter. Meanwhile outside, Gambit was still had a hold of Graydon Creed when suddenly he heard approaching sirens. He turned his head and saw five or six approaching police cars. Graydon smirked.

"Now what are you going to do? You think you can take all of them yourself?"

Gambit glared at him for a second before shoving him down and running towards the facility. Pyro and Mystique could hear the sirens too and they glanced at each other.

"Come on, we've got to hurry."

They approached the third and final door with the name "Omega Red" on it. Pyro burned the lock and they went in to see another man strapped to a bed. He was deadly pale and had long, shaggy blonde hair. Pyro thought he might be dead too, but the mutant apparently called Omega Red groaned.

"Don't worry, we're going to get you out of here," Mystique said to him as she undid the straps.

His eyes snapped open and then tendril-like coils emerged from his arms and wrapped around Mystique's throat.

"Hey!" Pyro shouted. "Let her go!"

The coil opened up and sprayed Pyro in the face with some kind of gas. He fell back from the force as Omega Red jumped out from the bed and ran out of the hallway. He kept running and didn't even stop when he reached the window. He smashed through it and all the way down to the ground, landing on his feet. He kept running with superhuman speed until he was far way from the facility.

"Are you okay?" Mystique asked as she helped Pyro to his feet. He felt a little dizzy, but other than that, felt fine.

"I'll live," he responded.

"Come on, we've got to go," she said grabbing his wrist but he pulled away from her.

"No! I'm not leaving without Gambit!"

"I'll wait for you for a couple of minutes, than we're leaving." Mystique then took off to the stairway.

As Pyro continued to wait, suddenly he heard a voice shout;

"Mutants in the building! Put down your weapons and come out with your hands up!" A policeman with a megaphone called out.

Pyro walked over to the window that Omega Red broke and looked down to see the police cars that had gathered below. His eyes rolled up in the back of his head for a second before an evil smirk came over his face. He lit up a fireball and sent it at one the police cars. It exploded and was sent high up in the air, landing on another car. His smirk got bigger as he felt the adrenaline surge through his veins, making him breathe faster. Pyro's body felt a little lighter, feeling like he was awake and asleep as the same time.

"Yo Pyro!"

He slowly turned his head around to see Gambit approaching him. His teammate then looked down at the police and pulled a card from his pocket, charging it up as Pyro formed another fireball.

"Ready, mon ami?"

Pyro nodded and they fired, each one hitting a separate police car, as the officers ran for dear life. Pyro's eyes followed them, but for some reason, he wasn't sending the fire after them.

"Come on, let's go."

John was so caught up in his thoughts they he hadn't noticed he and Remy had run up the stairway and were now on the roof and the rest of his team was no where to be found. The helicopter was gone.

"They left without us!" John shouted.

"They had to. Come on, let's go out the back way," Remy said.

The two of them ran down the steps and busted through the back door of the facility, but suddenly John grabbed his head and moaned in pain.

"Remy," he groaned. "What's going on?"

"It's alright, I've got you," Remy said as he grabbed John's arm and threw it over his shoulder to support his weight, as the two of them ran through the woods away from the facility.


	8. A Place to Hide

Fire can burn. Fire can heal. Fire can destroy.

"John."

Fire can create. Fire is my enemy. Fire is my friend.

"Can you hear me?"

Fire can kill. Fire can save.

"JOHN!"

John suddenly felt himself stop walking as Remy had his hands on his shoulders with a worried look on his face. He was just talking to him?

"John, look at me." The pyromaniac looked up and his brown eyes locked with Remy's red ones. "Are you okay?"

He looked around and saw that the two of them were walking down some street, he could still hear the faint sounds of sirens in the distance. Could still smell the burning metal of the police cars.

"I've been trying to get your attention for a few minutes now."

"Didn't you hear that voice?" Remy looked at him strangely as John then pulled away from him. John pulled away from Remy. "Where are we?" He could see his breath in the cold, Canadian air. Remy looked pretty cold but it didn't bother John much because of his high body temperature. He then suddenly remembered. "They left us. They fucking left us!"

"They didn't have a choice. Don't you remember how crazy things got?"

"Like hell they didn't." John ran his hand through his hair angrily. "The X-Men wouldn't have left one of their teammates behind."

Remy looked at him in confusion

"The who?"

"Never mind."

The two mutants kept walking until Remy shivered when a cold wind blew past him, he was freezing despite wearing a trench coat. He suddenly stopped walking and John ran into him.

"Which car do you want?" He asked while eyeing the parked cars on the street.

"What?" John responded, confused.

"I'm tried of walking."

Remy ended up hotwiring a Chrysler Pacifica and immediately turned on the heat when he began driving.

"Where do you think they are going?"

"How the hell should I know? Mystique was the only one who knew the location to regroup with Magneto." John responded while glancing at the vents releasing the heat that were starting to make him a little too warm. He soon closed his and pointed the other ones towards Remy.

After driving for a few hours, they began to realize they were in the middle of nowhere. Trying to decide what they were going to do, the two of them began to argue. Remy wanted to keep driving until they found something but John wanted them to stop.

"Where do you expect me to pull off?" Remy asked. "How about we stop right here, so we can freeze to death."

"I'm not going to freeze to death. My name is Pyro, remember?"

Remy gritted his teeth and forced himself not to glare at the younger man.

"Yeah, and what about me?"

"What about you?"

Remy shook his head as he realized snow was starting to come lightly down. He let out a rather long string of French curses and slowed the car.

"Do you have any helpful suggestions?"

John swore under his breath too when he saw the snow because he really wanted to get out of the car and stretch his legs. But how could he convince Remy to pull over and camp now in a blizzard? He began looking for any kind of road signs and finally saw one half hidden behind a tree's long branch.

"Go right." John said suddenly.

"Why?"

"Because that road looks like it goes to a private drive." John responded while taking off his wrist lighter because it was starting to become uncomfortable and placed it in his jacket's pocket. Remy took his suggestion and went right and ended up coming to a cabin, not a house, but it was heaven as far as John was concerned because he could finally get out of the car. Remy parked the car and shut the engine off. The two of them got out and headed for the door.

"It's locked." John said while rattling the doorknob.

"Let me." Remy responded and set to work on the lock. Growing up as a theif, there was no lock that could keep him out if he wanted in. John peered inside the window, hoping that no one was home. But it didn't really matter to him. If anyone was home, they were gonna be leaving one way or the other. A few moments later, Remy had gained entry to the cabin and pushed the door open. He looked pleased himself to be out of the car and out of the cold, even if he could still see his breath in the tiny little cabin.

"Hello?" He called. "Anybody in here?"

No one responded to the Cajun's calls and John figured the place was empty. Remy was shivering as he looked around, then sighed with relief when he saw a fireplace on the wall. 

"We need a fire," he said while glancing at his teammate. John removed his lighter from device Magneto made for him and made a fire for the other mutant.

Remy removed his trench coat and sat down in front of the fireplace, holding his hands in front of the fire.

"Maybe if you wore some gloves with fingers on them your hands wouldn't be so cold." John remarked.

The Cajun responded by saying something in French and John smirked, knowing whatever he said, probably wasn't very nice. John then walked into the kitchen and went through the cabinets, looking for something to eat while Remy remained on the floor, letting the fire warm the tension in his muscles. He glanced over when he saw John come back into the room holding a pizza box.

"Hungry?" John asked while opening the box.

"Starving." Remy responded while grabbing a piece.

They began eating and John soon grabbed the remote, turning on the television. He flipped through the channels until he came across a news report that was covering the break in at the FOH facility.

"Whoa," John said as saw the burning police cars. "Did I do that?"

Remy slowly turned his head and stared at the pyromaniac with a bemused look on his face.

"Are you kidding?"

John shook his head.

"I blew up one, you got the rest," Remy answered.

"Oh."

"Oh? You seriously don't remember?"

John sighed and grabbed a pillow off the couch and layed down on the floor, placing the pillow behind his head.

"It's been a long night. I must be tired."

They remained quiet after that with the only noise being the voice of the reporter on the news before John spoke up again.

"Hey, Remy?"

"Hmm?"

"Remember that night I burned down the bar?"

"How could I forget?"

"When we got back you said that our cause has gained mutants nothing but more suspicion."

Remy looked over at him.

"What about it?"

"You don't really believe in what Magneto is doing, do you?" John asked.

"Not really."

"So why did you decide to stick around?"

"I don't know," Remy shrugged. "Mags helped break me out of prison, so I guess I owed him one."

John smiled at the Cajun's nickname for their leader.

"What were you in prison for?"

"Gambling."

"That's it?"

Remy smirked.

"I also tired to rob a casino."

"That makes more sense."

Remy shut the television off after that and layed down, his head at John's feet. He grabbed the other pillow off the recliner and put it behind his head. While trying to get comfortable, a question came to his mind.

"John."

"What?" John responded, half asleep.

"Where were you before you joined Magneto?"

"At a school," he sighed.

"What kind of school?"

"I'll tell you about when I wake up," John responded as he rolled over and a few seconds later he was fast asleep while the fire continued crackling in the fireplace.

XXXXXXXXXX

The following morning, Remy was in the kitchen making coffee when he looked back in the living room and saw John still lying on the floor asleep. He smirked as he walked over and leaned down, tapping him on the forehead with his finger slightly charged, giving the pyromaniac a light shock. John jumped when he was startled out of his sleep and looked up to see Remy standing there.

"What the hell are you doing you shit head?" John growled as he rubbed his forehead. John was many things, but a morning person wasn't one of them.

"Wakey, wakey," the Cajun smirked.

John got off the floor and rubbed his chest, he was a little stiff from sleeping on the floor. And god he felt hot, warmer than usual. It was probably just because he slept in front of a burning fireplace all night. He sat down on the couch and Remy handed him a cup of coffee.

John rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, dear," he said while accepting the cup.

Remy laughed as he sat down next to him and he flipped on the television.

"You're welcome, mon ami."

"Okay, what is with you and this 'mon ami' shit?" John then snapped. He didn't know why, for some reason he was in a bad mood. "Why do you keep saying that to me? What the hell does it mean?"

Remy smiled down at his cup for a second before answering.

"It's French for 'my friend.'"

John then stared at the floor after he said that. The one thing he didn't want to do while in the Brotherhood was make friends, because he knew better than to get attached to anyone. Rogue and Bobby both had gotten too close back at school, it gave them the power to hurt him. But he guessed he had failed, because he knew that he considered the Cajun more than just a teammate. The reason he was in control of his powers that day when training with him was because he didn't want to hurt Remy. He cared about him.

They remained silent after that as Remy switched the channel to a news broadcast and paid attention as they saw they were reporting on the destruction of the second Friends of Humanity facility in Quebec, the one Magneto had taken the other half of the Brotherhood to. Half the building had collapsed and there was a giant hole in the center, probably from The Juggernaut.

John sighed as he wondered if Magneto had found what he was looking for there or not. He then wondered if he was going to even attempt looking for them or not. Remy looked away from the television and glanced over at him.

"So what are we gonna do?" Remy asked.

"I don't know." John responded. He honesty had no idea. Magneto never had a permanent base, and even though he knew the Brotherhood was probably headed to Washington D.C, John didn't know where or when they would attack the third and final FOH facility.

"I don't think we'll ever find him."

John moved his neck around as he took a deep breath. He felt really hot. He wiped his forehead and noticed he was beginning to sweat. As John took a sip of coffee, Remy pulled out his deck of card and began shuffling them, he decided to try to lighten the mood.

"Hey, if you were a playing card, which one would you be?" Remy asked.

John shook his head.

"I don't know…where is this leading to?"

"I was just curious," Remy laughed. "I think I would be the king of clubs," he said as he found the card in his deck and ran his hand over it.

"I was gonna go with joker, but whatever."

"I'm a joker, I'm a smoker, I'm a…tic-tac broker," Remy chuckled, trying to remember the lyrics.

"I'm a midnight toker," John corrected as he laughed too at his friend's stupidity. He then ran his hand through his hair and discovered that he was really starting to sweat badly. "Why am I so hot?" He asked himself.

"What?"

John didn't answer Remy as he walked over to the air conditioning and turned it way down.

"Hey? What are you doing?" Remy asked. "You're gonna make it as cold as it is inside in here!"

"Yeah, well. You don't have to deal with my high body temperature, Remy. So shut up."

He walked back over to the couch and sat down just as Remy got to his feet. John's eyes followed him in case he went over and turned the air conditioner back to where it was, but he didn't mess with it and simply headed for the bathroom. Shutting his eyes, John leaned his head back for a minute just as Remy finished up and came back into the room.

"So, how much longer should we stay here?" He asked.

"I don't know." John responded.

John opened his eyes and saw Remy standing directly in front of him, looking as if where about to continuing talking. He didn't though, he instead reached out and carefully placed his hand on John's forehead.

"Mon ami, your skin feels like it's on fire."

"No shit," he muttered as Remy sat down next to him and flipped the television back on when John realized he was sweating again, more heavily this time. He wiped the sweat off his brow and sank down lower into his seat, the fabric of his shirt sticking to his back.

"You don't look so good." Remy said, looking over at him.

"I don't feel very good." John admitted as he got to his feet. Why was he so damn hot? He stumbled to the front door and opened it and threw himself down onto the snow which was still there from last night. He picked some up in his hands and began running it down his face and over the back of his neck. Remy followed John outside and looked down at him as the snow around him was starting to melt. Now, Remy was starting to get worried.

"John, maybe I should take you to a doctor?"

"Don't be stupid." John snapped as he got to his feet. "What doctor do you know that's going to treat a mutant?"

"Well, we have to do something. You don't look well at all."

John walked back into the cabin, now rubbing his stomach. His insides felt like they were burning. Just then he heard the sound of a car pull up outside and a male voice shout;

"This is my cabin! What the hell are you doing here!"

"Get the hell out of here, abruti!" Remy yelled back.

"I'm going to call the police!" He shouted as he reached into his pocket to take out his cell phone.

Before his finger could touch one button, John came out of the cabin with his lighter in his hand. He formed a small fireball and sent it straight at his car. The fireball hit the front of the car, and the car rocketed off the ground in a massive explosion, the force knocked Remy and John off their feet. The car slammed back down and pieces of flaming debris flew all around them, some even crashing through the windows of the cabin. The man ran away as fast as he could, screaming.

"Jesus, John! What the fuck!" Remy yelled as he scooted away from the flaming car. John himself looked shocked.

"I didn't mean to do that," he muttered as he got back up.

"Well what the hell did you think was gonna happen?" Remy snapped.

"Come on Remy, you saw the size of that fireball, it was only suppose to scare him. That's never happened before."

John placed the lighter back in his pocket and moved his neck around. He began to think that maybe he should go see someone. There was only one place he knew that would treat mutants. And they weren't that far away.


	9. Familar Places, Familar Faces

"Oof!"

Bobby woke up when he felt something push him off the side of his bed. He fell on the floor and looked up to see Rogue standing over him with a sly smile on her face.

"What are you doing?" He asked sheepishly.

"Waking you up." She told him, like it should have obvious.

"Why?"

"So you would get up and train with me." Rogue said.

"You want to fight me?" Bobby said as got up and stretched his arms up into the air.

"Yeah I do."

"You really think you can handle me?"

Rogue just started laughing.

"I think I'll be fine," she said as she walked out of the room. Bobby changed his clothes and followed her out. They walked into the elevator and took it down to the gym. Rogue opened the doors and they stepped inside, Bobby putting on gloves to protect himself from her power. They stepped onto the mats and stood in front of each other.

"You ready?" Bobby asked.

"Always."

Bobby and Rogue both had smiles on their faces as they waited for the other to make the first move. Finally, Rogue lunged forward with an elbow that Bobby threw his arm up to block. Rogue then threw her other hand at Bobby which he was able to sucessfully block as well. Bobby then spun around and hit Rogue with spinning hook to the abdomen. Rogue went down to one knee and gasped for air.

"Are you okay?" Bobby asked, now worried.

"Fine," Rogue assured as she got back to her feet. "Where did you learn that?"

"Scott."

Rogue nodded and quickly grabbed a hold of Bobby's arm. She quickly turned so she was at Bobby's back. Rogue grabbed his other arm. Bobby felt himself being lifted off the ground. Rogue bent backwards as she slammed Bobby down on his shoulders. Bobby groaned as his head bounced off the mat and looked up to see Rogue smiling down at him.

"Where did you learn that?" He asked, his vision blurry.

"Logan," she shrugged.

As Bobby and Rogue continued training, Charles Xavier was finishing up going over something with Scott and Hank in his office when suddenly someone knocked at the door.

"Yes, come in." Xavier said.

Ororo suddenly entered the room.

"Professor, we have a visitor. He says he's brought a mutant that is sick and can't take him to a hospital."

Scott and Hank glanced at each other before looking back at the professor.

"Alright, have him bright the mutant in," Xavier instructed as he wheeled himself out of the office with Ororo.

Meanwhile, back in the training area, Bobby and Rogue were rolling around on the mat. Bobby was now lying on top of Rogue, pinning her under him. He grabbed her wrists with his hands and restrained them above her head.

"I win." Bobby smirked.

"Not yet you don't." Rogue struggled under him.

"Oh please. You're at my full mercy. You can't use your hands, I've got you."

"Think again," Rogue said as she planted her feet into the mat and lifted up with her legs. The distraction was long enough for Bobby to free one of her hands. She pulled Bobby in by the collar of his shirt and rolled over with him and putting herself on top of Bobby, pinning him down. Rogue grabbed Bobby's hands and held them down on either side of his head.

"Now who's at whose mercy?" Rogue asked.

"Okay, you got me," Bobby admitted.

Rogue smiled and let him go. After they left the gym, the two of them walked down the hallway of the main building with smiles on their faces, both feeling good, feeling like themselves. They decided to get something to eat together, when they spotted Hank and Ororo standing by the front door as a man, a teenager really was coming through, helping someone else through the door.

"What's going on?" Bobby asked as he and Rogue both stopped in their tracks. And that's when they saw him.

John emerged from the front door, he was the other boy being helped inside by the man Rogue and Bobby had never seen before. And John looked terrible. He was pale and sweaty, when Rogue saw his state her hands flew to her mouth, even Bobby's jaw dropped.

"John," she said in shock. "What's happened to you?"

"I'm afraid our former student has some kind of illness," Xavier answered for him as he wheeled out in the hallway with the rest of them. "They couldn't go to the hospital. We were the alternative."

Remy glanced at all the others as he hooked John's arm over his shoulder, Ororo had a sad look on her face as well and she came over and hooked his other arm over her shoulder and helped take John to the infirmary. Whatever had passed between them all at Alkali Lake, and as much as she detested Magneto, and as much as she was mad at John for going with him, Rogue's heart twisted. She glanced at Bobby for a second before following the others down to the infirmary. But with his jaw set, Bobby wasn't following. He looked down at the Professor who was still there.

"Maybe we're the alternative, Professor. But I don't want anything to do with him." And with that, Bobby turned and walked back down the hall to the elevator, taking it back to his room. As Xavier watched Bobby, Scott came out of the office and walked beside the Professor.

"Professor, are you sure letting him in is a good idea? He did go with Magneto, maybe this could some kind of set up."

"It isn't." Xavier assured.

"How would you know?"

The Professor glanced up at Scott with a slight look of amusement on his face, and Scott couldn't help but smile.

"I usually would never read someone's mind like that, but I felt this was a special circumstance. John really is sick."

"Alright," Scott sighed as he walked away. "I hope you know what you're doing."

About an hour had past after John and Remy's arrival and Hank decided to take a break after being with John. He took a sample of his blood and urine and was currently waiting on the results to determine what was wrong with him. To combat his high body temperature, Hank turned the air conditioner way down low, and hoped that fluids would stabilize him. Hank then gave the younger mutant a sedative that put him to sleep. Hank had told Xavier that they should probably contact John's family, but he had said that John didn't have any, or none that acknowledged him anyway. He also added that during the time John was here, his closest friend had been Bobby Drake. Hank walked into the dining room with a cup of tea in his hand and to his surprise, he saw Bobby sitting at a small table in the corner, his eyes focused on the swaying branches of a tree outside. The Professor had also told him that the two boys had some sort of falling out, which was why Bobby was refusing to visit John in the infirmary.

Deciding that perhaps he should make an effort to talk to Bobby, he crossed the dining hall and seated himself at the boy's table in the rear corner.

"How are you doing, Mr. Drake?" Hank asked as he took a seat across from him.

Bobby glanced at him for a second before putting his attention back to the window.

"You think I want to know how John is? Well, I don't," he snapped.

Hank didn't reply, just simply sipped his tea.

"He use to be a student here, you know. But he left." Bobby then continued to his surprise. "After everything the professor did for him…" he shook his head before finishing. "He betrayed us and joined Magneto."

Hank nodded.

"Yes, Charles told me. But, he worded it a little bit differently."

Silence resumed as Hank continued drinking his tea and Bobby glared out of the window before speaking again.

"Rogue went down there didn't she? He was my roommate, for a few years. But I guess she must have missed him."

"She came down, she's still down there I believe, even though Mr. Allerdyce is asleep," Hank confirmed. "But I think she was able to do that, because maybe she missed him less than you did."

Bobby snapped his head away from the window to glance at the blue, hairy, mutant looking both irritated and startled at once.

"What's the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Simply that maybe she was hurt less by his choice to leave, and because of that she can forgive him more easily. You've known him since you've arrived here, you two shared a room. It's understandable to be angry with him for thinking that he abandoned you. Anger is a expression of deep hurt. Is that why you're so upset?"

"I don't know," Bobby shrugged.

Hank nodded.

"I believe it's your feelings for John that you are trying to sort out, and loving your friend isn't the same as being attracted to him. And second, you probably know that he has no family…and the infirmary can get rather lonely."

Bobby rolled his eyes.

"So what? Even if I go down there, he's just going to leave again when he gets better."

"Maybe…or maybe not. As his friend, I think you should consider visiting him," Hank said as he got to his feet. "But I can't force you to do anything you don't want."

Hank turned and left the room while Bobby continued to look outside the window. Twenty minutes later, Bobby slowly walked out of the dining room and took the elevator up to his room, still thinking about his talk with Hank about his former best friend. A part of him wanted to go down to the infirmary to see John, another part of him just wanted to ignore the fact he was here, wait for him to get better and leave again, like he knew he would. When he got to his room, Bobby sat down on his bed and took a deep breath running his hands down his face for a second, still lost in his thoughts. He then closed his eyes and started thinking about the first time he came to the mansion, the first time he met John. The day they became roommates...

"This way, please." 

Bobby Drake followed Professor Xavier down the hall of the huge mansion that would be his school and home for the next few years. Xavier went through two double doors into a room Bobby expected to be his office. As he went behind his desk, Bobby noticed a slightly loud metallic clicking. It was rhythmic, and slightly echoing in the quiet. He turned and saw a boy, maybe 15, leaning against the wall by the doors, flicking the top of a Zippo lighter back and forth with a smug expression. He watched Bobby with a strange gaze, not missing a beat with the pattern of the clicking.

"Ah, John." The Professor smiled. The boy merely shifted his eyes over Bobby's shoulder to look at the man behind the desk. "Acting up in class again, I suspect?" Professor Xavier asked.

"I guess that's what Scott would say," John spoke. 

"Professor Summers," Xavier corrected. "This is the third time this week John."

John didn't answer but the loud click, click emitting from his lighter.

"Try not to do it again, please," Xavier said with a smile.

Bobby had been watching the lighter the whole time, the flame spouting every time John flicked the top open, then disappearing when his hand clicked it shut. For a moment, it seemed to go in slow motion.

"That is all, John, you may go back to class," Xavier said. 

The boy either didn't hear the Professor, or he hesitated about whether he should leave or not. At last, he gave the lighter one final click and left. Bobby watched him disappear as the door closed, before he looked back at Xavier.

"He's quite a handful," The Professor laughed before he started going over Bobby's schedule. After they got done going over his classes, Xavier was about to give him his room. "You'll be rooming with a young man named Pitor Rasputin,-" he began, but the Professor then started to think twice about that. "Actually, I think you'll be better suited in another room."

Xavier gave him directions to his room and Bobby grabbed his bags, taking the elevator up to the second floor of the mansion. He took a left and walked down to the last door by the window. He opened up the door, and to his surprise, the boy he saw in Xavier's office was laying on one of the beds face down. When he heard the door opened he looked over with a hard look.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Uh…" Bobby began, a little nervous. "The professor told me to go to this room."

"I was supposed to have a room to myself," he said dangerously. 

Bobby walked over to the other bed in the room, his eyes still locked on his new roommate. 

"Sorry. Looks like you're gonna have to share."

"Look, man. This is my room, you're gonna have to leave."

Bobby just rolled his eyes and decided to ignore him. He turned his attention back to his luggage. Without saying a word, he threw both bags on the empty bed and unzipped the bag, taking out some of the contents. This didn't sit well with John. He got to his feet and grabbed Bobby's arm, spinning him around. 

"Hey! Didn't you hear me?"

Bobby winced a little at the hard grip the other boy had on his arm. He pulled his arm away, and took a step back. It was his first day here, he really didn't want to get into a fight, especially with this kid. 

"What the hell's your problem?" Bobby asked.

"Right now, you're my problem," John stated as he pulled the lighter he was playing with in the Professor's office out of his pocket. He then formed a fireball, the size of a baseball in his hands. He started tossing it up and down, a daring look in his eyes and a smirk on his face.

"I bet you're thinking about leaving now, aren't you?"

"No." Bobby smiled. "That fireball would freeze before it'd touch my stuff."

John raised an eyebrow.

"And just how would it do that?"

Holding out his hand, Bobby produced a stream of cold air. It wrapped itself around the fireball and froze it solid. John was so surprised that he dropped the ball, causing it to break. 

"How the fuck?"

Bobby just shrugged.

"The same way you made your fireball, I guess."

"What's your name?" John asked. 

"Bobby Drake."

John nodded and smirked again, now looking a little impressed. 

"I'm John Allerdyce, I guess you can stay."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Slowly opening up his eyes, Bobby just remained where he was as he continued to think about what he should do. Meanwhile down in the infirmary, Rogue was still sitting in the infirmary, with a ski jacket on and a blanket wrapped around her because of how cold it was in here, waiting for John to wake up. She had been there for several hours now and finally decided to get up and stretch her legs, maybe get something to drink. She got up and crossed the room, opening the door to leave, when she accidentally ran into someone.

"Sorry," Rogue said, a little embarrassed. She then looked up to see who she ran into, and saw it was the boy that had brought John to the mansion.

Rogue was immediately intrigued by the boy's red on black eyes.

"Hello, Chere." Remy said, tipping an imaginary hat at Rogue. "Don't worry, you are forgiven. My name is Remy LeBeau, you are?"

"My name's Rogue." She told him, not meaning to sound as snappy as she had, but not regretting it either.

"Sounds like you've got a lot on your mind."

"I'm just waiting for John to wake up."

"How is he?"

"I don't know. We're still waiting on the test results."

She looked at Remy and noticed his red eyes watching her intently. They were concentrating completely on her, and the message they whispered was almost…seductive.

"So, what's your story?" She asked. "I mean, how did you meet John?"

Remy grinned.

"John helped break me out of prison." He then winked at her.

"What did you do?" Rogue asked, aware that she was prying, but unable to contain her curiosity.

"I was the best thief in New Orleans, Chere." Remy told her, not holding anything back. His gloved hand moved a little closer to hers, and Rogue watched it carefully. "So," he said, changing the subject, "You and John, were you together?"

Rogue smiled at him.

"Why?"

"Just wondering," Remy responded.

"No." Rogue said. "We were just friends."

"Okay, well I'm just going to visit my homme', nice to meet you Chere," Remy told her and went to open the door of the infirmary.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Rogue asked him before he walked in.

Remy stopped and looked back at her.

"It means 'dear' in French," he smiled.

They stared at each other for another couple of seconds before Remy continued into the infirmary, and Rogue turned and walked down the hall. She entered the kitchen to see Pitor and Kitty sitting at the table across from each other. They both looked over when they saw her.

"Hey." Pitor greeted. "We heard that John was back. Is it true?"

"Well...I don't know if 'back' is the right word to use. He's here though, in the infirmary getting treated."

"So what, is the Professor going just let John go after he's better? Shouldn't he have him arrested?" Kitty asked.

Rogue sighed as she got out a soda. She didn't know whether or not John was a fugitive. She knew that he had helped Magneto break those mutants out of Alcatraz, what else he had done in the month and a half he had been gone from the school was anyone's guess.

"I don't know, Kitty." Rogue simply responded before turning away and heading back to the infirmary.


	10. Diagnosis

Several Hours Later...

He slowly opened his eyes. For a moment, he thought he was still in Canada because of the cold but realized quickly that he was in the med lab of the mansion he swore to himself that he would never step foot in again, but this time he had no choice. The room was dark but he could feel the IV needle in his arm and hear the slow steady beep of a monitor. They even changed him into one of those stupid hospital gowns.

John sat up and took a deep breath. He pulled the needle out of his arm, removing also the wires that had him hooked up to that damn annoying machine. He threw his legs over the bed and set his feet on the freezing floor slowly pulling himself up, and started looking for his clothes.

"They're in the cabinet over there," a quiet voice said.

John jumped when he heard the voice and spun around to the direction where it came.

"Jesus fucking Christ…you almost gave me a heart attack."

"Good thing we're in the med lab then, huh?"

John squinted, his eyes adjusting to the darkness and saw a figure sitting in a chair on the other side of the bed. Sitting there, wrapped up in a blanket was his old...friend.

"Rogue?"

She smiled.

"Yes."

He stared at her in the dark for a second before turning and taking his clothes out of the cabinet.

"What are you doing here?" He asked while taking off the gown and putting his shirt and jeans back on.

"I've been worried about you. You've been asleep for almost twelve hours."

He didn't respond, and as the seconds bled into long moments of screaming silence, John finally turned to her with a disdainful sneer, his right hand twitched restlessly, seemingly lost without the distraction of the Zippo lighter.

"Well, I'm fine. You can leave now." His voice was harsh, but restrained, and Rogue winced. She'd rather have the full blast of his anger like before than this unnatural impassiveness. It was too disarming; too characteristic of the 'new John'. However, Rogue refused to be intimated. She knew that somewhere in him was the old John, the one she hung out with and laughed with on many occasions. The John she considered a friend.

"You didn't look fine when Remy brought you here. Are you feeling any better?"

"Where is Remy?" John asked, ignoring the question. Truth be told, he did feel better. His insides didn't hurt anymore and he didn't feel as hot.

"He's still here. The Professor gave him a room to stay in."

"Good, when you leave, can you ask him to come down? I want to talk to him."

Rogue sighed. It was obvious that John didn't want to see her or talk to her. It was also obvious that John still felt the same way he did in the letter, even now. She got and walked over to the door, but stopped for a second and looked back at him. When she spoke, her voice trembled slightly.

"I care about you, John. I always have. You're my friend. More than my friend." John continued to ignore her and sat down on the bed, his back to her. However, Rogue continued. "And I wanted to tell you something. You were never just a third wheel."

John closed his eyes after he heard Rogue say that, remembering every word in that letter he wrote to her. Rogue sighed as she walked out of the med lab and continued down the hall until she heard a yell back from where she came from. Rogue spun around and ran back to the lab and saw John on the floor, sitting on his knees and the palms of his hands were glowing orange.

"John!" She yelled and ran over to him, when suddenly his hands busted out into flames, the force sending him backwards and hitting the wall. He could hear Rogue still screaming his name, but he didn't pay any attention to her.

He couldn't pay attention to anything except for the flame that surrounded his hands in shock.

"Holy shit!" John yelled.

He had just created fire.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"I've never seen anything like this Professor."

Hank McCoy was currently standing in the Professor's office, going over the test results of John that had just come in as John stood across from the desk from them, eager to learn what was going on. He had always wanted to be able to create fire, and minutes ago had just done it. "It's some sort of virus, that is attacking Mr. Allerdyce's mutant gene." Hank finished. Xavier finished looking over the results and looked back at his former student.

"Do you any idea how you may have contacted his disease, John?" He asked.

"I don't know." John said while trying to think. He then started to remember the Friends of Humanity facility they had invaded…him helping Mystique get the mutant test subjects out. He then remembered.

"I got sprayed in the face with gas by some mutant. That's the only thing I can think of."

Xavier nodded.

"Do you remember anything about this mutant? What his powers were?"

John shook his head.

"No."

"Well, do you remember where you were?" Hank asked.

"Yeah," John laughed bitterly. "I was in Canada with the Brotherhood breaking some mutants out of a facility owned by Graydon Creed. I was actually trying help make a difference, unlike here where we have to hide while the humans prepare to kill all of us!"

Xavier and Hank were quiet after he said that, the Professor stared intently at John. He could hear Erik in his former student. John wasn't the first student he had lost over the years. Whenever a student left the school on bad terms, like Jason Stryker, Xavier always thought if there was anything he could have done differently in order to help them. After hearing what he just said, seeing the way he was now, Xavier knew that he had really failed in helping John.

"That is all for tonight, Mr. Allerdyce," Hank said. "I will begin work on synthesizing a cure tomorrow."

"Wait a minute," John responded. "I can create fire now. What makes you think I want to get rid of it? How bad can this virus really be if it makes me more powerful?"

Hank looked down at the Professor for a second before looking back at the young man standing in front of him.

"Mr. Allerdyce, I didn't want to tell you this now…but since you are the one who is sick, I think you have the right to know." Hank took a deep breath before he continued. "If you are not cured, this virus is going to keep attacking your mutant gene, making you more powerful…but eventually it's going to cause your powers to flare completely out of control, and eventually render the body incapable of creating healthy cells..."

He trailed off after he said that and stared at John with sympathy in his eyes.

"Well, spit it out." John snapped.

"Ultimately, it will result in the death of the victim."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

After arriving back at the infirmary, John was now sitting at the end of his bed still going over what he had just been told about his condition. He had the virus that Graydon Creed had developed and if he wasn't cured soon, it was going to kill him. John had really never thought about death before. Not even during the whole Alkali Lake fiasco, from the time it began with the soldiers invading the school, from the time it ended with them sitting outside Stryker's facility as the X-Men went in to stop him from annihilating the entire mutant population did John ever think about dying. He had always lived his life moment by moment, day by day. Maybe it was the time he had to spent fending for himself on the streets that had made him this way. But now that death was staring him in the face, he really didn't know how to feel about it.

As he continued thinking, John turned his hands over and stared at his palms. He concentrated and formed a fireball. John smiled a little as he tossed it back and forth. He had always wished he could create fire, he just didn't know that his wish would come at such a high price.

'Pyro.'

John shook his head after he heard that, he stared down at the fireball in his hand. It was always there, in his head. Every time he used his power, he could feel its grip on him.

'Listen to me.'

"Shut up." John growled.

'They want to lessen our power.'

"Shut the fuck up."

'Burn them.'

"SHUT UP!" John yelled.

"Mon ami," Remy said as he walked into the room. "Who the hell are you talking to?"

John ignored him as he closed his eyes and extinguished the flame. Remy came over and sat down next to him.

"So, how ya feeling?"

"Fine...I guess."

"You guess? Didn't they find anything wrong with you?"

Taking a brief glance at the other boy, John wondered for a moment if he should tell him what he knew about his condition.

"Um...the test results still aren't in yet." John lied.

Remy nodded.

"I was worried about you."

The pyromanic looked over at the Cajun in surprise.

"You were?"

"Sure I was. You're my best friend."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment in silence after that. But it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, the kind that John hated. Ever since he had helped break Remy out of prison, John had gotten to know him real well, and he was actually glad that Remy was here with him right now. He wasn't even thinking about the virus anymore. John's stomach then growled and he finally realized just how hungry he was.

"Hey." John finally said. "Want to go to Wendy's?"

Remy looked over at him with a bemused smirk at the randomness of his question.

"Where did that come from?"

John couldn't help but smile a little too. Back when he was still living here, one of his favorite things to do was to walk down to some fast food restaurant not far from here after curfew. Sometimes he was able to convince Bobby to come along with him. Bobby always wondered why John would wait until eleven-thirty or midnight to go, but he didn't understand that sneaking out after hours was half the fun.

"I'm starving. I haven't eaten since yesterday." John finally answered.

"Sure, why not?" Remy said as he got to his feet.

As the two of them got up to head out, Bobby, who was listening by the door of the infirmary quickly jumped into the next room as the door opened and John and Remy continued their way out of the mansion.


	11. Race Against Time

As the sun began to rise, Magneto stood outside of his base watching the sky thinking about his next mission. He vowed along time ago to bring mutants together, to show them their power. The power to defend themselves against those who would deny them their very right to exist. To accomplish this he had to bring together some of the most powerful mutants to him, to strengthen his army and prepare for the war he knew was coming. And soon, they would make their final strike on the Friends of Humanity and their leader Graydon Creed, destroying the virus he was developing to infect mutants with. After the third facility was destroyed, Magneto would lead the mutants, as brothers to a new and glorious future.

He would not fail his people again.

While continuing to stare at the sky, his second in command Mystique walked out and stood beside him. After a few moments of silence, she finally spoke.

"When are we going?"

"At noon." Magneto answered.

"What about Pyro and Gambit?" She asked.

"What about them?"

"Do you think they've told the X-Men about our plan?"

"No," Magneto sighed. "And even if they did, they don't even know where the third facility is. We'll take it out before the X-Men can even get their uniforms on."

After he was told that Pyro and Gambit got separated from the group, he planed to find them until Callisto, who Mystique had rescued from the facility in Ontario and had the ability to track other mutants and know their power told them they were at the school. After he found that out he decided not to go after them because he didn't know what they were there for. The two of them were strong, but he figured the Brotherhood would still be capable even without them.

"Come my dear, let's get the others ready." Magneto said and led the way back inside.

While Magneto and Mystique were preparing to launch their latest attack with the Brotherhood, back at the mansion, Remy was walking down the hall, heading to the infirmary to visit John while flipping his cards repeatedly in his, thankfully, still intact hands. Merde, that big hairy mutant with the claws was awfully protective of his beer. As he continued walking, he noticed the girl he ran into the other night standing by one of the doorways.

"Good morning, Chere." Remy grinned.

Rogue couldn't help but smile a little.

"Good morning, Mr. LeBeau. Are you okay?"

"I'll live, and call me Remy."

"Okay...Remy. I'm sorry about Logan, he's not exactly what you'd call a people person."

"I noticed."

"I just wouldn't go near his beer again, if I were you."

"Well, I appreciate your concern for my well being, Ms. Rogue." Remy smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me."

Remy walked around her and continued his way down the hall, Rogue watching him the whole way until he was out of sight. Just then, she noticed Bobby standing against the opposite wall and wondered if he saw the whole exchange.

"Who is that guy, Rogue?" He asked.

"Him? Say's his name is Remy LeBeau. He's the one who brought John here, don't you remember?"

"Yeah, I just…how does he know John?"

"I don't know. They probably met when they were with Magneto."

Bobby sighed a little to himself as he looked down at the floor. Last night he went down to the infirmary just to check on John, thinking he would be asleep. He didn't expect to hear two voices talking when he got down there. And what he heard said between the two surprised him even more. How long had John been gone? A little over a month? How could that boy…Remy consider John his best friend after knowing for such a short period of time? Bobby didn't know why it bothered him, it just did.

"Hey, you guys."

Bobby and Rogue both looked over when they heard a familiar voice speak.

"The Professor wants to see all of us in his office." Ororo said.

As the two of them walked with Ororo, Remy made his way into the infirmary to see John still laying on his bed.

"Don't tell me you're still asleep."

Suddenly, John rolled over and tumbled onto the floor.

"John!"

John didn't say anything, but began to shake violently. Remy dropped down to the floor with him as John had one hand clamped to his forehead, and his other hand was clenching into a fist, then relaxing before twisting into a fist again.

"John? Talk to me, man!"

When Remy received no answer he began to seriously worry. He felt John's forehead and his skin began to heat up, just like it had in Canada. After another few seconds, John took a deep breath and seemed to calm down.

"Remy..." he managed to say as he opened his eyes and looked up at him. "We need to tell the Professor about Magneto's plan."

As much bitter feelings he still had about this place, he had to accept that Xavier and Hank were his only hope if he didn't want to die.

Back in his office, Charles Xavier was watching the television with the X-Men of a mutant protest. The camera panned to the crowd which held up a banner that read "No More Mutants!" As they continued watching, John and Remy suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Professor." John gasped.

It took him a moment to realize, but John saw Bobby standing almost right next to him in the room. They glanced at each other but did not speak. There was too much time, too much pain from the last month that prevented them from saying anything to each other.

Xavier turned his chair around to look at his former student.

"John…you need to be in the infirmary."

"I need to talk to you," John responded and didn't waste anytime in explaining. "Magneto is planning to attack the third Friends of Humanity facility in Washington D.C. I don't know where or when, but I know he wants to kill Graydon Creed."

"Isn't Creed the senator that's been pushing for the mutant registration act over the last few months?" Scott asked.

"Yes," said Xavier. "He is also the son of Mystique and Sabertooth."

John looked at the Professor in shock after he said. Graydon was the son of two mutants? And Mystique and Sabertooth were together? That thought made John feel even worse.

"So they're going to kill him?" Hank asked.

"So?" Logan said as he lit a cigar. "If he really is developing a mutant virus, then he deserves it."

"But think about it," Ororo spoke. "A group of mutants kill a guy who was concerned with the dangers of mutant kind. It proves him right."

"And turns Creed into a martyr." Xavier finished.

"You know when I was in Washington, I overheard of some facility that Creed owned," Hank said. "Maybe it's the same place Magneto is planning to attack. It would be worth a look." After all, he needed more information about the virus before he could develop a cure for it.

"Damn right it's worth a look," John snapped. "And me and Remy are going with all of you."

"Oh no." Scott began. "No you're not."

"Oh yes we are."

XXXXXXXXX

Back in Washington D.C, Graydon Creed was currently walking down the hallway of the Friends of Humanity facility he owned. It was the last one left, the only one that hadn't been destroyed by the mutant terrorist, Magneto. But Graydon knew it was only a matter of time before this facility would be targeted, and he had to hurry if he had any chance to implement his plan to infect mutants with his virus. Graydon walked into the laboratory to see Omega Red strapped to an operating table. He briefly escaped when the FOH facility in Ontario was attacked, but due to a chip they had implanted in his body, they were able to locate and capture him again.

Omega Red's mutation, the ability to secrete "death spores" from his body was the source of the virus. They needed to copy his DNA in order to duplicate it.

"Dr. Cornelius, have taken a sample of his blood yet?" Graydon asked.

"Just about to do that now," Dr. Cornelius replied. One of the orderlies in the room handed him a syringe. He walked over to the sedated mutant and jabbed him with the needle, taking a sample of his blood. After he did, he placed the sample in a little bottle and handed it to Graydon.

"Good, all our other samples have been destroyed. I'll take it up to Carol to be examined, than we're all leaving."

He walked out of the lab and took to elevator up to the top floor where Dr. Carol Hines worked. Graydon had paid for extra security surrounding the building, but knew even they would be no match for Magneto and the mutants he led, and he wanted to get out of the building as soon as he could. While Graydon was busy trying to get a sample of DNA, the X-Jet flu over the skies racing to Washington D.C. John sat next to Remy in the backseats of the jet, praying the location Hank knew was the right one, and they got their before Magneto attacked.

He knew deep down the X-Men didn't trust him, hell Cyclops even said himself that he didn't trust him, but John didn't care. He couldn't help it, but John smiled when he started thinking about all the times he began snoring loudly in Cyclops classes. He knew even back then the leader of the X-Men hated him. John shut his eyes and tried to clear his mind as the X-Jet kept going.

Meanwhile, outside the FOH facility, Major Stevenson was standing on top of watchtower, his eyes widened in shock when he saw what was marching towards them.

"Get ready!" He shouted.

Convoys raced toward the gate, stopping twenty five feet away from it. Soldiers marched and aimed at the large fence. All weapons were ready and aimed at the fence. Some of the men were nervous, half of them didn't know what was going on. An alarming sound caused a few to shiver, it was the sound of The Juggernaut marching towards them. They began firing at him, but the bullets bounced off his bronze helmet and body armor harmlessly. Suddenly, without reason the bullets stopped in mid air for a second before falling to the ground, and then the guns began getting ripped out of the soldier's hands, one by one. Psylocke walked closer to the fence, she didn't seem to be worried by the barb wire or high voltage electricity running through it. She slowly hoisted up her arm to shoulder length. With a minor jerk of the hand six soldiers were sent careening into the electric fence. 10,000 volts of electricity discharged through their bodies. Their fleshed burned and their faces melted from the heat of the electricity. They were all instantaneously killed. Psylocke put her arm down and the dead bodies collapsed to the ground.

Other soldiers tried going for their guns again but Magneto appeared and pushed them further away. Juggernaut began running and busted through the fence with ease. A solder near him tried to stab him with a knife but Juggernaut merely swatted him away, he flew through the air before crashing head first against the building. His neck broke and he fell to the ground, lifeless. Quicksilver ran literally faster than the speed of a bullet, one by one he tripped about a dozen soldiers on the way. The soldiers tried to shoot him with their guns but it was nearly an impossible feat, he dodged all of them, and with precise hits to the neck, he killed them all as well.

Toad's tongue slicked out, knocking a bunch of soldiers on the ground. He threw them across the premises as if they were rag dolls. Meanwhile, the convoys sped toward the mutant menace known as Magneto, but the large vehicles were no match for the compelling terrorist. In an instant convoys were sent flying hundreds of feet aback. Upstairs, a guard came through the door of the lab Graydon was working with Carol Hines in.

"Mr. Creed, security is breached!"

"I know that!" He answered hastily. Graydon looked back at Carol. "Come on, get this done."

"I'm working as fast as I can," Carol responded while putting the blood sample in a machine.

"Senator Creed, follow me, please," A female guard instructed as she came into the room. "I'll protect you."

"Yeah, great," Graydon muttered.

He allowed himself to be led further into the back of the building, into the panic room. When the guard closed the door behind her, she looked back at Graydon and her eyes turned yellow.

"It's sad when a boy can't even recognize his own mother," Mystique said.

"Mystique!" He shouted.

Before he could do anything, Mystique took out the nightstick and slammed it across Graydon's face, knocking him out. Meanwhile in the downstairs lab, the orderlies looked at each other in fear when suddenly, Omega Red awoke. One of his coils came out of his wrist and impaled Dr. Cornelius through the chest, killing him instantly.

"Stop him!" One the orderlies shouted.

But Omega Red was able to break through the straps and the coils opened up, spraying them all with his deadly gas.

Back outside Magneto was calmly watching the carnage, a smirk on the old man's face. After all the solders were taken care of, The Brotherhood entered the facility with one clear mission; find Graydon Creed and destroy every aspect of the mutant virus. He found out from Mystique that the source of the virus was a mutant, but he didn't care. The mutant was too dangerous to be left alive. Magneto walked up to Juggernaut.

"Stay outside, kill anyone who tries to enter."

Before he could go inside himself, Magneto heard the unmistakable sound of a jet coming in. He sneered as he saw the blue jet of the X-Men land on the roof of the facility. When they landed, Storm led the way and opened the hatch on the roof for Nightcrawler, Iceman, and Rogue to go into the building. She followed them down and quickly took charge.

"Stay in back of me," Storm instructed as she began to lead them down the hall.

Magneto flew up and landed on the roof. Wolverine saw him and came towards him but Magneto shook his head and with the flick of a wrist, Wolverine was flung from the roof and landed on the ground.

"You really never learn, do you?"

On the ground, Wolverine was grabbed around the throat by Juggernaut and tossed backwards, and he crashed through the remainder of the fence. Just then, Cyclops and Beast exited the jet and came towards him.

"I see that wherever I go I'll always be pestered by you children," Magneto noted.

"We can't let you kill Graydon Creed," Cyclops replied.

Magneto sighed.

"I suspected as much. But I never asked for permission."

"We're here to stop you."

"But will you succeed?" Magneto smiled. "I don't think you will."

"You have no idea what the repercussions of your actions will be," Beast spoke up.

"Do you have any idea of the repercussions of that genocidal maniac will be, if he lives? He is currently developing a virus to infect mutants with."

"We know, but if a mutant kills him, then everything he has said about mutants will be proved right," Beast insisted. "We can't beat Creed's ideas if we turn him into a martyr."

"I have located the heart of the problem and am prepared to deal with it," Magneto replied. "I will not allow for this man's hatred to spread."

"You are justifying his hatred with your actions. Are you prepared to damn the entire mutant species on account of one man?"

"You have no right to lecture me on genocide." Magneto warned.

"You should listen to him, Magneto," came a familiar voice. Magneto looked over and saw John walking towards him.

"Ahh, my old pupil, back with the X-Men I see."

"I'm not back with anyone, but I need Dr. McCoy's help-"

"You insufferable brat," Magneto said, cutting him off. "I took you in, I trained you…and this is how you repay me?" Without warning, Magneto backhanded John across the face. Before he could stop himself, Pyro formed a fireball in his hands and sent a line of fire straight at Magneto.

Cyclops and Beast watched in shock as Magneto fell from the roof and landed hard on the ground below.


	12. War Zone

Right after Pyro blasted Magneto off the roof, he followed Cyclops and Beast down into the building, but on the ground Wolverine continued battling the seven foot monster incased in bronze armor, The Juggernaut. Wolverine leaped at Juggernaut and while he was airborne, Juggernaut lifted up his hand and swatted him away like a bug, sending him flying into a dumpster. The dumpster was dented as Wolverine stood up, cracked his neck and charged at him again. Juggernaut smirked and picked up a piece of large metal from a Hummer and swung, knocking him yards back.

Back in the facility, The Brotherhood was still searching for Graydon Creed and the laboratories the virus was being developed in. Suddenly, Sabertooth walked into a room to see a bunch of people of the floor, dead. Standing over them was Omega Red. Sabertooth roared and leapt at Omega Red, only to be grabbed by his tentacles in mid-air and slammed into a wall.

"Hello Victor," he grinned as he grabbed Sabertooth with his other tentacle, then swung him around into the opposite wall making him crash head first, knocking him out.

Omega Red exited the room and that's when the rest of the Brotherhood saw him and recognized the mutant from the pictures Mystique showed them. They headed towards him but Omega Red's coils opened up and he sprayed his gas.

"Everyone get back!" Toad yelled. "Don't let the gas hit you!"

The others heeded Toad's warning and ran back from the gas while Omega Red made his escape, heading to the second floor. Climbed up the stairway and reached the door to enter the second floor, Omega Red opened it up and he saw Storm and Nightcrawler walking down the hallway.

"Stop right there!" Storm yelled.

He sneered and unleashed his tentacles, each grabbed Storm and Nightcrawler around the waist. Lifting them up, he smashed the two of them into each other, knocking them out cold. Just as they fell to the ground, Rogue came around the corner of the hallway with her gloves off and saw what happened. Before she had time to react, a tentacle slammed into her, the force knocking her all the way back and sending her crashing out a window. Rogue screamed as she held onto the edge, the broken glass cutting into her hands when suddenly Gambit appeared and reached out to grab her.

"Wait Remy don't!"

But it was too late. His bare hand grabbed hers and now Rogue was beginning to drain his life force. He grunted a little but was finally able to bring Rogue back into the building before collapsing onto the ground. Just then, Iceman came around the corner and began to fight with Omega Red.

"Remy I'm sorry," Rogue said while kneeling down next to him to see if he was okay. "I should I have mentioned it to you, but if you touch my skin it drains your energy."

Gambit merely grinned as the veins on his forehead disappeared.

"Chere, you can drain Remy's energy anytime. I've got plenty to spare."

While Gambit recovered, Iceman was desperately trying to freeze Omega Red but he was too quick and managed to dodge every attempt before wrapping a tentacle around Iceman's throat, strangling him.

Iceman gasped for air as he fell to his knees, he tried to use his powers but he was quickly running out of oxygen. As he began to see black, suddenly a long streak of fire came down the hallway and rammed into Omega Red's chest, making him release his hold. John ran down the hallway and looked down at his former best friend, lying on the ground while gasping for air and looking back down the hallway where Omega Red was getting back up.

John formed two fireballs in his hands and stared at both of them.

"Listen…listen to me now."

Pyro sent the fireballs straight at Omega Red.

The flames reached him, brushing quickly against his legs. Omega Red gave a sharp intake of breath and tried to get away, but Pyro made the fire spread to his torso. Pyro grinned when he saw the effort, the control, Omega Red tried to exert. But in the end, the instinct to give a cry of pain wins out.

At last, he screams with pain.

But now that the flames have caught onto his skin, they will not stop burning. Aflame, he rolled around the floor and cried out. Pyro concentrated and made the fire hotter. The pungent smell of burning flesh assaults Pyro's senses.

"Burn, you bastard, burn…"

Omega Red was illuminated in flames, almost haloed. He has closed his mouth, afraid that flames will jump in, his eyes are filled with horror and pure suffering. The crimson flames play, almost lazily, all along his body, searing through his clothes to the skin below. Pyro can see that he will die soon. Meanwhile down in the laboratory, Beast and Cyclops were talking to Carol.

"I need any information you have about this virus," Beast said to her.

"I have files on it," Carol responded. "I'll give you everything you need."

"What did Creed tell you this virus was for?" Cyclops asked.

"Graydon told me this was going to be used to combat dangerous mutants, such as Magneto. If a mutant is infected he has three, maybe four days before that mutant looses all control of his or her powers and dies. He said the President had approved it."

"No, the President never approved it. I know that for a fact." Beast responded.

"I'm sorry. I would have never have helped develop this if I had known."

She took the sample of Omega Red's blood out of the machine and handed it to Cyclops.

"We copied a mutant's DNA to make the virus. This is the last sample of his blood."

"It must be destroyed," Beast said.

Cyclops nodded and took the sample.

"I'll take care of it."

As Cyclops turned and walked out of the room with the sample of blood, Beast looked back at Carol.

"Do you know where Graydon Creed is?"

"Yes, he's in the panic room on this floor."

"Can you open it from here?"

Carol nodded and pressed a button. Beast walked out of the lab and headed down the hallway to a heavy door. Opening it up, he saw Graydon on the ground with Mystique standing over him, pointing a gun at him.

"One more step and he dies." Mystique hissed.

"Mystique, you don't have to do this."

"Oh, yes I do."

"If you kill him, then everything he has said about mutants will be proven true. They could pass the Mutant Registration Act because of his death, is that what you want?" Mystique didn't answer as she continued pointing the gun at Graydon. "The virus has been destroyed, you don't have to worry about that anymore. And we have enough evidence to hand him over to the authorities."

Still, Mystique said nothing. Beast took a deep breath.

"Mystique please. He is your son."

After another few seconds of silence, Mystique pulled the trigger. Graydon gasped as he looked at where the bullet it the wall, inches from his head. Mystique lowered the gun and walked out of the room, taking a quick glance at Beast.

"Fine, take him."

As Beast led Graydon out of the room he saw Pyro standing right by the door. He looked over at the teenager who was smirking at him.

"The mutant who was the source of the virus is dead." Pyro informed him.

Beast nodded.

"We need to get back to the mansion, so that I can cure you."

Night had fallen when the X-Men got back to mansion after the battle in Washington D.C. overall, feeling that the mission had been a success. They handed Graydon Creed over to the authorities, and the mutant virus that was being developed had been destroyed. Currently, Hank was in the lab attempting to synthesize a cure along with Carol Hines.

"The virus searches for a mutant's "X-Factor," Carol read from her files. "The sequence of mutant genes that gives a mutant his or her powers. If it did not find an activated X-Factor in the target, it would die off, leaving the person unaffected."

Hank stopped working as he continued listening to her.

"That would explain why a human was not in danger to it."

"Yes, if the virus does detect the X-Factor, it would begin inserting introns into the transcription codings of the victim's mutant RNA."

"So what we need to do is eliminate the introns from John's RNA, it should cure him of the virus."

As Hank and Carol continued to work, upstairs Rogue caught up with Bobby just when he dropped Kitty Pryde off at her room after watching a movie with her in the student lounge.

"Bobby! Wait up!"

He turned around and smiled at her.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I want to talk you about John."

A frown found its way to his face.

"What about him?"

"Have you talked to him at all since he's been back?"

"What's there to talk about? Once he's cured he's only going to leave again."

"You're wrong Bobby. I think he'll stay. Can't you just give him a chance?" Doubt clouded across his face. She knew he was about to say no. "For me?" Rogue added.

How could he say no to that? With a long drawn out sigh, Bobby nodded his head and gave her a forced smile.

"For you, but I'm not getting my hopes up, and I don't think you should either. He just isn't predictable."

Rogue smiled wholesomely again and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before heading to her room. She was about to turn the corner when she ran into someone.

"Hello Chere," Remy grinned when he saw it was her.

"Sorry Remy," Rogue said while shaking her head and staring at the floor. "Gotta stop meetin' like this."

"I don't mind, girls run into me all the time."

Rogue ignored the innuendo and looked up at him.

"Thank you for saving me back there."

"No problem."

"I'm really sorry about draining you."

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine." Remy assured. "But if you are really feeling guilty about it, you can make it up to me by letting me take you to dinner. Say, Friday night?"

Rogue smiled.

"Sure, why not?"

They were both quiet for a few seconds, staring at each other before Rogue spoke.

"Well, good night."

"Sweet dreams." The Cajun responded, than walked past her to his room.


	13. Personality Clash

After a few hours of non stop working, Hank and Carol walked into the infirmary to find John gone from the bed. Hank shook his head in frustration and they two of them began to search for the pyromaniac, eventually finding John standing outside watching the stars.

"John," Hank sighed as he walked up next to him. "You really need to stay in the infirmary."

John rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever."

"We need to talk to you about the cure we have developed."

"Well…will it work?"

Hank looked over at Carol and she answered for him.

"Yes, but there's a chance…a very small chance, that it could cure you completely."  


John glanced at Carol before looking back at Hank.

"What does she mean?"

"She means that because the virus is attacking your mutant gene, there's a small chance it could cure not only the virus, but also the gene itself. Therefore, you would be…human." Raising his chin, John narrowed his eyes as he continued to stare at Hank. Finally, he then stated;

"Then I'm not taking it."

Hank and Carol both looked at him in shock. The blue mutant then finally managed to ask;

"What did you say?"

"You heard me." John snapped. "If there's a chance that it could turn me into a fucking human, then I'm not taking it."

"You've had the virus for two days now." Carol began, trying to reason with him. "Tomorrow will be your third day, you might not live past it."

"I'd rather die as a mutant than live as a human."

"John." Hank began, "Think about what you're saying. You can't be serious."

John spun around so that his back was facing the two of them. He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"Look, just give me the rest of the night to think about it."

Hank frowned but could see that the young man was getting increasing agitated and he didn't want to upset him further. Hopefully, it time he would come to his senses.

"Alright. We'll pick this up tomorrow morning."

Hank and Carol turned to walk back inside, leaving the pyromaniac to himself.

About twenty minutes later, as John continued to watch the sky, he suddenly heard the back door open and somebody walk out. He rolled his eyes, thinking that it was Hank coming back to bother him about this cure again, but the sudden drop in temperature alerts John to who it really is. John smirked as he felt his eyes on him and then heard approaching footsteps until he was standing right next to him.

They were quiet for a few minutes.

"So…" Bobby said, finally ending the silence. "How's life on the run?"

Keeping his eyes on the stars, John didn't even bother looking over at Bobby as he opened his mouth to respond to his former friend's question.

"I'm not running from anything."

"Right. So, are you going back to Magneto?"

"No. I don't think he'd want me back since I blasted him off the roof."

Bobby raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Sorry you missed it."

"Are you staying here then?"

John laughed a little. He wasn't even sure if he was going to take Dr. McCoy's cure, let alone know if he was going to stay here or take off again. But he wasn't going to let Bobby know that.

"That's a pretty stupid question, Bobby. I have no plans on staying here. I left this place remember? Having to come back here was just a speed bump for me."

"Why did you leave, John? No bullshit excuses, just tell me why."

"I would have thought that Rogue showed you my letter."

"She did." Bobby responded. "But you can't put this all on me and Rogue. You left, you're the one who left."

John laughed again.

"Right, it's always me. Whatever, Bobby. Think what you want."

Bobby shook his head.

"You're always testing everyone. You have people here who care about you, but you push us all until we push back. Don't you ever quit, John? Don't you get tired of it?"

"Don't you get tired of trying to save everyone?"

"I've never saved anyone."

"I said try."

"You're an asshole, you know that?" Bobby said while turning to glare at him.

"That's not exactly breaking news."

"So if you're not going back to Magneto, and you're not staying here, what are you going to do?"

"Maybe I'll work on a farm." John replied, sarcastically.

"I'm being serious."

"What do you care where I go?"

Bobby flinched, then turned to him.

"I never stopped caring, John. I was never the one with issues about caring for someone, that was all you."

"Right, because I'm the one that found the only person in the school that couldn't be touched to fall in love with."

"Oh, so that's it? You were jealous?"

"I was never jealous of you two!" John snapped as he turned and glare back at Bobby. "It's not about you, or Rogue! I didn't fit in here, I never will."

"You never tried to fit in!" Bobby yelled back. "You were always looking for a reason to be pissed off, to get angry! You don't want to be happy here, because then you'd have no reason to lose control!"

John continued to glare at Bobby for a few seconds before turning away again and looking back up at the sky. He looked down at his hand and focused for a second before creating a tiny flame in his palm. After another few seconds of silence, Bobby spoke again, his voice a little quieter this time.

"I missed you, you know? I think it took you leaving for me to realize that we balance each other out pretty well. Don't you think?"

"I've been fine." John responded. "I didn't miss anyone here."

He was lying. He tried to tell himself the whole time he was with Magneto that he didn't miss anyone here, but he did. Bobby however didn't look upset by what John had just said. He just a deep breath and lightly kicked at a piece of dirt with his shoe.

"We were never going to make it, were we?" Bobby sighed. "We were always going to end up like this."

"No one really has it all together, Bobby. It would only make since that it'd be like this. We've always been opposites in everything else, now this. You're the hero and I'm the villain."

"You're not a villain, and I'm not a hero. I couldn't even save you."

"Don't be yourself up over it. Not everyone wants to be saved."

Bobby was silent, so John closed his hand, putting the small flame out and turned to walk back inside. There was no point in staying out here any longer.

Hours later, John was laying on his bed in the infirmary with his hands folded behind his head, still wide awake. He couldn't sleep, he could only think about what he was going to do, if he was going to take the cure or not. He didn't want to die, John knew that deep down. But he didn't want to take the chance of loosing his powers. He would be nothing without it. Being a mutant was the only thing he had.

Slowly, John closed his eyes as he continued to think and his mind entered a daydream...

John was back in Queens, standing in front of his childhood house, burning to the ground. Suddenly he heard a noise from the ruins of the house. Someone was walking out of it, slowly walking towards him. When he finally got to where he was standing, he stopped right in front of him. John was staring at…himself.

"Time to say goodnight Johnny. Your mind only has room for one of us." Pyro grinned. He suddenly lunged at John, taking him to the ground. Pyro then started slamming his fist into John's face. "How could you even think about taking that cure? You're nothing without me!"

"Hank said there's only a small chance I'll lose me powers," John cried while being punched, trying to reason with Pyro.

"It's still too much of a risk. Don't you remember the things you did?"

Pyro grabbed John's neck and forced him to turn his head. John was now looking at himself on the front porch of the Drake house, just after the officer shot Logan in the head. Bobby and Rogue were laying face down on the ground with several officers pointing their guns at all of them.

"You know all the dangerous mutants you hear about on the news? I'm the worst one."

Pyro then formed a fireball and sent it straight at the cop. He kept going, hitting the other cops with blasts of fire, blowing up cop car after cop car. Feeling the rage grow inside him.

"It was me who did that, not you." Pyro nearly spat in his face as he continued to growl. "I was there when you needed me…I made you do the things you couldn't."

John forced Pyro off of him and jumped up to his feet.

"I have to take it…I'll die if I don't." John said, trying to convince himself.

"You can't risk losing your powers."

"What will my friends do if I don't take it?"

"You don't have any friends." Pyro snarled.

"Oh yes he does," said a familiar voice. 

John turned around to see Professor Charles Xavier sitting there in his wheelchair. His warm smile across his face, the same smile he had when he first met him. Slowly, Scott Summers appeared right beside him. Then Ororo, then Hank, then Bobby, then Rogue, and finally Remy.

"Concentrate…Pyro is fighting to control you." The Professor said.

Before he had a chance to say anything a huge fireball then engulfed all of them. John watched in horror as they all turned to ash. He looked up to see Pyro standing behind them, a sadistic smile on his face. John screamed in rage as he ran towards him, tackling him to the ground and began punching him as hard as he could.

"You think it's that easy to get rid of me?" Pyro laughed as John continued hitting him with all the strength he had in his body. "You can't get rid of me. I made you."

"I can be you," John said while stopping his assault. "But I have a choice…a choice! And I choose to be me!"

Pyro laughed.

"Who the fuck wants to be John Allerdyce?"

"I do!" John then began slamming his fist into Pyro's face again. "I do." He said again, softly to himself before he stopped hitting Pyro. That's when he heard another voice in his head. This time it was Magneto.

"What's your name?"

"John."

"What's your real name John?"

John then formed a fireball in his hand and stared down at it.

"Pyro."

John shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts away. He looked down, Pyro was slowly starting to fade away from beneath him.

"My name is John Allerdyce." he shouted. "My name is John Allerdyce!"


	14. Questions and Answers

The next morning when Hank and Carol walked into the infirmary telling John they needed an answer now to whether or not he was going to take the cure for the virus, John didn't hesitate in telling them that he wanted to take it, even if there was a small chance it could cure him completely. The two of them were surprised by his quick answer, but relieved. They half expected a long discussion of trying to convince him to take it, despite the risk. Now, for some reason he wasn't scared about the possibility of just being John Allerdyce, a normal human being.

After Hank injected him with the cure, it took a few minutes for it to take effect. After about an hour, they took another sample of his blood and gave him the news.

The virus was gone…and he was still a mutant.

The feeling was so overwhelming that John needed to go someplace to be alone. He went all the way up to the roof, the spot he always went to be by himself. As soon as he got up there he looked instinctively to the left to see the Professor sitting up here, as if he was waiting for John the whole time.

"What are you doing up here?" John snapped.

"John, I just want to talk to you." Xavier responded.

"Save it."

"You aren't the first student I've lost." Xavier continued. "Whenever I lose a student, I always think to myself, did I choose them poorly? Did I fail in some way to prepare them? Or did I simply fall short of the fearless leader they hoped for? In your case, I don't think I helped you as much as I could have."

"I don't need help."

"Do you really think that Erik's way is the answer? To threaten the lives of innocent people because you're angry and afraid?"

"And what you're doing is any better? Make nice with humans while they make plans to kill all of us like Stryker?"

"John, we're all flawed. William Stryker was no more evil for doing what he did to mutants than Erik was for trying to do the same thing to humans. Not every human is like Stryker."

"Are you sure about that?" John scoffed. "Logan got shot in the head at Boston after he tried talking to those damn cops, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let them do that to me."

"So instead, you're going to attack everyone that may potentially stand in your way?" Xavier asked.

"I'm not going to—" John stammered. "Damn it, you're putting words in my mouth!"

"I see."

"So...aren't you going to turn me in?"

"For what?"

"You know...for what I did at Boston. For helping Magneto break those mutants out of Alcatraz? Or how about burning down a bar, you must have heard about that one on the news. Take your pick."

Xavier nodded.

"Usually, it'd be my obligation to make sure someone who's committed such acts to be punished by the fullest extent of the law. But I have a deal for you, John. Remain here, you don't have to continue being a student if you don't wish, but while you remain here, you'll have therapy sessions with Dr. McCoy."

"Therapy sessions?"

"Yes. I think you might find it very easy talking to him."

John sighed. He didn't like it, but at that moment he knew he didn't have much of a choice.

XXXXXXXXXXX

That was several days ago now. John slowly opened his eyes as he woke up in the room he was given and realized today would be the first day of therapy with McCoy. It sucked, but it beat going to jail. He rolled over to see Remy propped up on an elbow and was staring at him with a smirk on his face.

"Good morning, sweet thing." Remy grinned.

John rolled his eyes as he sat up and threw his legs over the bed.

"They couldn't have given us a room with seperate beds." He muttered to himself.

"This was all they had."

The Professor had given him and Remy a room on the third floor where the rest of the X-Men had rooms, so it was bigger than the room he use to share with Bobby. The only bad thing about it was that he had to share a bed with Remy.

"Hey, do you want to do something tonight?" John asked. "This is my last night that I can go out. Until I've completed all my sessions I'm not going to allowed to leave the mansion."

"Sorry, I can't. I've got a date tonight with Rogue."

John slowly looked up.

"Rogue?"

"Yeah."

"You're going out with Rogue?"

"What, did I stutter?"

John looked back down at the floor and started shaking his head.

"No..." He muttered quietly to himself.

This couldn't be happening to him again. Not again.

"Why are you going out with her for?" John asked while getting to his feet.

"Because I saved her life and she owes me one." Remy answered. "Plus, she's kinda cute."

"So what? You know she can't fucking touch anyone right?"

Remy's brows furrowed at John's sudden anger.

"What's with you?"

"Of all the girls here, you had to pick her?"

"I thought the two of you were friends, once."

"Yeah, people make stupid mistakes all the time."

"Like joining a murdering league of a mutant elitist?" Remy responded.

"Hey fuck you, you good for nothing retarded thief of a Cajun!"

"Okay, mon ami." Remy almost laughed. "Why don't you try to calm down?"

He then turned around to head for the door but by this time, John was in a full blown rage.

"Don't you turn your back on me!"

John lunged forward and grabbed the back of Remy's shirt, spinning him around and punched him in the face. Remy stumbled backwards and hit the door, before he could comprehend what was going on, John came at him again. He quickly got an arm up to block John's next shot and got his own fist up, connecting with John's jaw. However, that didn't even slow him down as John continued lashing out at Remy with his fists, not caring where he connected, just as long as they hit something. Finally, Remy regained his wits long enough to tackle John to the ground. He quickly wrapped his arm around his throat and held him in a firm chokehold.

"Are you done?" Remy asked.

John propelled his elbow straight into Remy's midsection, causing the wind to be knocked out of him and forcing Remy to release him. The two of them go back up to their feet.

"I guess I'm not." John snarled, circling Remy.

Remy quickly lashed out with a foot, catching John in the ribs. John staggered back, but quickly regained his ground. He swung, his fist catching Remy in the mouth, splitting his lower lip. Remy lunged at John, tackling him again. The two rolled around on the floor, cursing and hitting each other until Remy raised both knees, balancing John on them to send him head over heels.

John was back up in no time, landing a blow to Remy's chest. Remy came back with a punch right below the eye before they both collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Panting on the ground, Remy looked over at the other boy laying next to him, wondering what the hell had just happened.

"What the hell was that about?" Both young men were now facing each other on their knees, still trying to catch their breath. A mixture of confusion and anger was plastered over Remy's face. "You gonna answer me?" Remy demanded, now starting to get his wind back.

John however just pushed himself up to his feet and continued getting ready for his session with Hank like nothing had happened.

"John!"

"Fuck off, Remy." John muttered as he pulled his black combat boots on and headed for the door. "I'm going to be late for my therapy session."

"Well, whatever drugs Hank decides to give you, tell them that I recommend that he up the dosage immediately."

Normally, a remark like that would have gotten to him, but John just ignored him as he opened the door. He turned around and gave the Cajun a dirty look before heading out.

"Have a nice time on your date."

He then slammed the door behind him and headed for the elevator. When he reached the bottom floor, John walked to the room he was told to go to for his sessions. He entered the room to see that Dr. McCoy wasn't there yet. John took a deep breath as he went over to sit on one of the recliners. He wondered if he could handle the silence of the room, or Dr. McCoy's eyes on him as he talked. Just then, the blue furry mutant walked into the room.

"Sorry I'm late." Hank apologized. "I had to talk to a student after class."

"It's okay."

Henry removed his suit coat and sat in the recliner opposite of John. He then took out some kind of chart. After smoothing down his tie and clearing his throat, he began speaking.

"So, John, what would you like to talk about today?"

The pyromaniac shrugged in return.

"I don't know. Whatever."

Henry could tell that the young man wasn't comfortable with this at all.

"Why don't we start out with something easy?" Henry began. "What's your favorite color?"

Raising an eyebrow, John looked at him in confusion.

"What?"

"It's just a simple way of starting the whole session off, for you to become more comfortable talking to me as well as revealing some things about yourself, however minor they might be. My favorite color is blue, for obvious reasons. What about you?"

A few seconds of silence went by before John answered.

"Red."

"Any particular reason?"

"No."

"Do you have a favorite movie?"

"Scarface...Full Metal Jacket, Pulp Fiction, Jaws. Dawn of the Dead…" John listed. "I like a lot of different horror movies."

"Ah." Henry smiled. "I'm not too big on horror movies myself."

"Too scared?"

"Eh, a lot of them are too brutal."

John nodded.

"Do you like sports?" Hank asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I think things like football and baseball are just boring and a waste of time."

"What about music? Do you have favorite band?"

"Queen, Van Halen, Disturbed. I listen to a lot of different bands."

Hank smiled as he nodded. He was happy that he at least had John talking. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go into John's childhood yet, at least not in his first session. So he decided to talk to him about his days at the school.

"Now, John…you were here for a little over three years before leaving. If you can, I want you to think back to your very first days. How did you feel about being at this school?"

John's eyes went over to the open window. He started thinking about when he first came here, back when he was fourteen...tried to remember.

"Well…" John finally began. "I guess I was happy to be off the street. And that I was happy that I didn't have to worry about how I was going to get my next meal. But other than that…I don't know if I had any other feelings towards it."

"Did you socialize with any of the other students?"

John shook his head.

"How come?"

"I just didn't."

"Did you feel that they ostracized you? Or-"

"No. I'm just not a people person. It's just the way I've always been. I've always been a loner."

"But that changed a little didn't it?" Henry asked. "When you were given a roommate?"

"I had the room to myself for a couple of weeks but they eventually made me share with someone."

"Bobby Drake?"

John nodded.

"And the two of you became friends?"

"Yeah, we did."

"Do you remember how that came about?"

"I was annoyed with him at first, I didn't want to share a room. But soon, he started talking to me, he just wouldn't leave me alone like the others did…and eventually…I just got use to him."

"And would you say that Bobby was your only friend here?"

"Definitely."

"Was there ever a point in time where your relationship with Bobby became…shaky? I mean…was there a time where you two stopped hanging out as much?"

John almost snorted.

"The day Rogue arrived."

"I see. Why's that?"


	15. Yesterday's Promise

Later that evening, long after John's session with Hank ended, Rogue and Remy were walking outside the mansion, hand in hand through Ororo's gardens. They had just arrived back from their date.

"I had a nice time, Remy." Rogue said.

"So did I." Remy responded while smiling back at her.

They stopped walking and Remy slowly leaned in for a kiss. They came close, each one's breath visible in the air, but Rogue suddenly pulled away.

"No, I can't Remy."

"I'm not scared, Chére."

"But I am."

Rogue turned away and sighed.

"The first boy I kissed went into a coma for three weeks. I don't want the same thing to happen to you."

Remy came closer, pulling her toward him.

"That isn't gonna happen with me. Maybe you can control it now."

"I know I can't."

Rogue then looked up at Remy and again looked at the bruise of the right side of his face and his split lip. She noticed it the whole night and decided not to ask about it until now.

"Remy...what happened to your face?"

"Ah, I thought you would never ask."

"Well I didn't want to bring it up, it's just-"

"It's okay. I got into a fight with an old friend of yours this morning."

"Who?"

"John."

"John?" Rogue responded, in surprise. "Why did you two fight?"

"Well, apparently he wasn't very happy when he found out the two of us were going out."

She looked confused now.

"I wonder why, it's just one date-"

Then as soon as Rogue said that, a thought entered her mind. Actually, it wasn't so much of a thought as it was a memory of a certain line written in a letter.

I'm done being your third wheel.

"Oh, no." She said to herself.

"What?" Remy asked.

"Remy, where is John now? I need to talk to him."

"He's probably back in our room. He said he's not allowed to leave the mansion."

It had been a few hours now since his therapy session with Hank ended. When it was all over, John headed back to his room and slouched down on the bed. Remy still hadn't come back yet, he was probably still on his date with Rogue. As John folded his hands behind his head, he began back to his session and what he discussed with Hank. He thought back to what he had told him about his friendship with Bobby slowly going downwards. Back when Rogue arrived, John had to admit that he found her attractive. On her first day in class, Bobby and him both tried to impress her with their powers in Ms. Munroe's class. He guessed that she liked Bobby's powers more because they couldn't be separated from each other for the rest of the day.

Or any other day after that.

It wasn't like he was jealous of Bobby and Rogue's relationship, he wasn't. The 'crush', if you could call it that came and went. He just hated it when he was brought along for one of their dates. They would be staring at each other the whole time while John was just…there. Bobby and him then stopped hanging out like they use to, because Bobby would spent all his free time with Rogue. He didn't have Rogue as a girlfriend, and it was also like he didn't have Bobby as his best friend anymore. He was stuck with nothing.

His frustration with the whole thing was one of many reasons he ended up going with Magneto that day at Alkali Lake. And now, Rogue was out with only the second friend he ever had, and she was going to steal him away too. He was going to become a third wheel all over again.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door and John slowly got to his feet with his brows furrowed, wondering who it was. Then, speak of the devil, the door opened and Rogue slowly walked in, closing the door behind her. He hadn't really seen her since the day he woke up in the infirmary, back when he still had the virus. She must have been back from her date from Remy, and from the look on her face, Remy had told her how he reacted when John found out he was going on a date with her.

"John." She began.

"Get out." He snapped. He just wasn't in the mood.

"John," she whispered again, because she found that it was the only thing she knew to say. She stepped forward so she was closer to him, laying a gloved hand on his shoulder, and he tensed under her touch.

"Are you deaf? I told you to get out."

"John, please." Rogue's eyes closed, seemingly of their own volition, as she tried to summon the right words and failed again. "I just want to talk to you. I want to help you with whatever it is that you're going through."

John's eyes narrowed.

"Why?"

"Please don't ask me that. You know why."

"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking. Why?"

When she spoke again, her voice trembled slightly.

"I care about you, John. I always have. You're my friend."

John's expressed softened a little, his lips pursed as if in great consideration.

"Okay, I'll take that. But it just leaves one more question. What makes you think I give a damn if you care about me or not?"

Rogue continued to look at him, not knowing how to answer. After a few more seconds went by, John shook his head and went over to sit down on his bed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his lighter. Without looking at her or saying a word, he began to open and close it.

"I know about your fight with Remy." Rogue finally began. "I know why you got mad at him."

"Just leave, Rogue." John responded as he stared at the small flame. "There's no point to this."

Rogue glared at him.

"You selfish son of a bitch!"

John looked up, startled at the uncharacteristic outburst.

"You think all you have to do is decide you don't want us to care about you anymore and that's it? You think it's that easy?" She demanded. "Well here's a news flash, John, you don't get to do that. I'm your friend, and so is Bobby. And whatever happened between us, we can fix it. That's what friends do."

John still wouldn't look at her, he kept his gaze on the flame dancing up from his lighter. Rogue walked over and knelt in front of him, the tears in her eyes held tiny reflections of the fire.

"John, I'm sorry. Whatever Bobby or I did, or didn't do. If you feel like we treated you like the third wheel, I'm sorry. And I promise, the same thing won't happen with Remy."

Finally, John looked up at her, meeting her eyes and smiled a little. Just then, the door opened up again and this time Remy stepped inside.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"No." Rogue answered as she got up. "It's getting late, I'll see you guys tomorrow."

She walked past Remy and out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Remy raised an eyebrow as he continued to look at John. The other boy met his eyes and sighed heavily. 

"Are you okay, now? I mean, I don't have to worry about being attacked in my sleep do I?"

Taking a deep breath, John sighed.

"Look…I'm sorry I hit you. I shouldn't have lost my temper like that."

Remy gaped at the pyromaniac in shock after hearing his apology. John looked over at Remy in irritation. Apologies did not come easily for him, he had not made many of those in his life.

"Yes, shocking, I know. Don't get use to it, you are one of a handful of people I have ever apologized to." John growled. "And I will not say it again!"

"You don't have to." Remy grinned as he took off his trench coat. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah, I'm good Remy."

"Not that good, that's why you have me."

Remy flashed John a quick smirk before tackling him to the floor. The sheets tangled around John's legs, making it hard for him to do much more than let Remy pin him to the ground and grin in triumph. Remy sat on his knees, arms boxing him in.

"What the hell, Remy?" John half yelled, his breath still short from hitting the ground so hard. What had gotten into him? Remy then leaned down until his forehead was resting against John's.

"You're a good friend."

John gazed up at him as Remy then gave John a kiss on the cheek causing the pyromaniac to yell out in disgust as Remy laughed and quickly got up, making a dash for the bathroom before John could retaliate.


	16. Vanilla Twilight

John woke up the next morning to find Remy leaning back against the wall and watching him with a silent gaze that sort of unnerved him. Propping himself up on his elbows he returned Remy's stare warily, once again wishing he had his own bed to sleep in.

"What the hell are you staring at?" John finally asked after a couple more seconds.

"Forget it," he responded while flipping back the sheets and getting to his feet. "I don't want to start up a fight with you again."

"Don't give me that 'forget it' crap, I want to know."

Remy sighed.

"I wanted to ask you something, but I'm afraid it's gonna make you go crazy again."

"I may be going to therapy now, Remy, but as far as I know, I'm not crazy." John rolled over and got out of bed. "So what the hell do you want to know?"

"Why did you get so mad when I told you I was going out with Rogue?" Remy began. "Are you in love with her or something?"

"No." John snapped and Remy closed his eyes for a moment, knowing by the tone in his voice that he was angry, like he expected. "It has nothing to do with that."

"Then what is it? You know I wasn't here when the two of you met each other, so I'm trying to figure things out."

"I don't feel like talking about it now. When you've been through half of what I have, then we'll talk."

"You think you've had it rough?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"I wouldn't, huh?" Remy smirked. "Well let me tell you a little something about me."

John looked over at him.

"I never met my birth parents." Remy began. "I was kidnapped from the hospital where I was born and placed in the care of the Fagan's Mob, a gang of street thieves. I was living on the streets and when I was ten I tried to pick pocket a man named Jean-Luc LeBeau. He took me off the street and adopted me into his own family."

"That's quite a story." John stated. "I had to live on the streets too."

"Ah, so you see mon ami, you and I really are a lot alike. And you're not the only one who has gone through a lot of problems over the years."

"Yeah, but at least you ended up in a family. Even if you weren't related to them by blood, they were still your family, right? They still cared about you, didn't they?"

"Well, what about you? What about your family?"

"I don't have one. Bobby was the closest thing to family I ever had."

"Okay, so what happened?"

John sighed. He really didn't want to get into this again, but since Remy didn't know he decided to give me a short version of the story.

"When Rogue arrived here they started going on. And over time it was like I didn't even exist to either of them. I tried being both their friends, it didn't work out. It's actually one of the reasons I left."

Taking a seat on the bed, John took a deep breath. Remy slowly walked over and sat down next to him.

"So...do you want me to stay away from Rogue?"

John looked over at him, surprised that Remy had actually offered to end his new found relationship. But he quickly shook his head.

"No, I don't want you to do that...it's just..."

"What?" Remy asked, trying to get the pyromaniac to open up.

"You're…you're my friend, Remy. I don't want to lose you."

Remy smiled a little, touched that his friendship meant that much to John, even if he was too proud to show it.

"Can I say something, John?"

"Go ahead."

"You need to get out and talk to people more. I don't think anyone around here feels close to you."

John smiled a little, moved by his concern.

"I have never been the buddy-buddy type, Remy. You know, 'Oh, I couldn't sleep last night, I was thinking of my dad who beat me', all that kinda crap, you know."

Remy nodded as John looked over at the clock and realized it was almost time for his session with Hank.

"Anyway, I have to get going. I guess I'll see you later."

"Sure."

XXXXXXXXXX

After walking Kitty Pryde to her classroom, Bobby wandered around the hall. He really didn't have much to do. He didn't have a Danger Room session today and Rogue was still asleep from hanging out with that Remy guy last night. He had seen the two of them walking around in the gardens last night. While he hadn't said anything to Rogue yet, he had to admit that he really didn't like that guy. There was just something about him that really rubbed Bobby the wrong way, and he was actually worried about Rogue dating him. Just then, to his surprise, Remy walked across the hall and entered the kitchen area. Bobby stopped in his tracks for a moment before deciding to follow him.

Remy was sitting at the table in the kitchen playing with his cards while chewing on a straw. Most of the other students in the mansion were younger then him, so they were in class right now, and John was in his session with Hank. There was no one to really talk to so he continued to sit and shuffle his cards.

"Hey, you!"

He heard a voice but didn't really recognize it, so Remy didn't even bother to look up and kept throwing his cards up in the air and catching them with the skill of an experienced juggler. Bobby walked up to the table and narrowed his eyes when he saw that the older mutant had completely ignored him.

"Excuse me, but when people call you it's polite to address them."

"You never said my name." Remy responded. "So why should I waste my time to listen to you?"

"Listen, I want you to stay away from Rogue. I know what kind you are, you use nice girls like Rogue to get whatever it is you want, and then dump them when you are done. And I'm going to let you hurt her."

"This is the first time we've ever spoken, how could you possibly know what kind of person I am?" Remy asked while getting to his feet. "And what about you? You the kind of person that just leaves his best friend in the dust?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"John told me you and him were pretty good friends once."

"Yeah...we were."

After his talk with John in the gardens that once night, Bobby pretty much considered any relationship he once had with John to be over.

"Well, John told me that you ditched him for Rogue."

"Oh please." Bobby sighed while rolling his eyes. "How long is he gonna sing that song?"

"Yeah, he's probably lying right?" Remy replied sarcastically. "After all, a goody-goody kid like you could never do anything wrong."

"I'm no goody-goody. And I never ditched him for Rogue. It wasn't my fault or hers that he left."

"Whatever, abruti." Remy muttered while walking past him. "I'm just tellin' you what he thinks."

Remy walked out of the kitchen, leaving the ice man to himself...

XXXXXXXXXX

It was now going on three weeks since they had become roommates, and Bobby was beginning to notice some things about John.

John didn't put things back where they belong. He had a chair that he used for a hamper, and he used the underside of his bed for everything else. Bobby was careful not to let any of his own things stray over towards his side of the room, because he may never see it again. Bobby was sitting at his desk doing his homework while John sat on his bed, reading some kind of magazine.

"Do you talk at all?" Bobby asked.

From what he heard about his roommate, he half expected threats or an act of violence but John merely shrugged.

"When I have a reason," John said not bothering to look up from his magazine. "But you're not a good enough one, so fuck off."

"Ha," Bobby responded. "There, you just said something to me. Maybe I'm worth it after all."

John just snorted and continued reading, but Bobby thought he looked almost amused. Throughout his life, Bobby had always made friends easily. He always turned his homework in on time, always did well on tests, always listened to what the teachers said. He had that good boy charm that hasn't failed him yet. The thing is, John never turned his homework in, barely said a word, and was almost always rude when he did speak. He has that bad boy charm that kind of cancels him out. That seems to be the theme for them. Ice and fire. Teacher's pet and troublemaker. Organized and messy. It's a small wonder Bobby didn't feel eclipsed every time John walked into the room.

Bobby decided that he was going to try to be friends with John, even though he knew it wasn't going to be easy. He began thinking of a way to start a conversation and eventually asked John if he needed help of his math homework because he knew John was failing math, and failing it on purpose.

"Are you purposely trying to get held back?" Bobby asked after John rejected his offer.

"It's not like I have anywhere else to go," John answered.

XXXXXXXXXX

Currently, Bobby was sitting on his bed inside of his room, the same room he used to share with John. It was still the same, except for the fact that the other boy's things weren't here. There was still another bed, not occupied by anyone else since John left. He was thinking about what Remy had said to him, about him leaving John in the dust to be with Rogue. And while he didn't think that he did that, he realized it didn't really matter, it was what John thought. Admittingly, when Rogue came around the two of them stopped hanging out together as much. After her arrival, it was usually the three of them that would be together. Bobby never thought that John felt left out or anything, he never showed it. Bobby began to think back to the days before Rogue arrived, when it was just the two of them. He remembered how John would never mention his family, or what happened to him before he arrived at the school.

Bobby wondered if he was John's first real friend. While he didn't know anything about his former best friend's past, he had to imagine he didn't have a great upbringing. He also knew that John barely spoke to anyone until Bobby arrived here. He began to realize that it must have been hard for John to let his guard down and finally did when the two of them just got use to each other because they saw each other everyday, being roommates and all.

Taking a deep breath, Bobby got to his feet and exited the room, beginning to look for John.

It was time to go to class, but John managed to convince Bobby to skip it, and climb the side of the mansion with him. When they made it to the top, Bobby looked down to see how high off the ground they were as John sat down and began playing with his lighter as he always did. When Bobby sat down, he started talking and for the first time, brought up his family. He began telling John what his father did for a living, what his mother did. He told him about his little brother Ronny. 

When he was finished, Bobby made the mistake of asking John about his family. 

John stiffened up a bit and didn't really answer. He merely told Bobby that he burned the house he and his parents lived in to the ground.

Bobby wasn't sure what was worse. Having the perfect life and losing it, or having nothing to lose.

"I'm sorry John," he said.

John turned his head and glared at him.

"Save your pity for the dead, Bobby. I don't need it."

Meanwhile, John had arrived back at his room, just finishing up with his latest therapy session with Hank. When he walked in, he saw Remy changing his shirt, looking like he was getting ready to head out.

"Hey, I'm going to the movies with Rogue tonight." Remy began.

John nodded.

"Are you okay with that?"

"Fine." The other boy shrugged, seeming surprised that Remy had asked him that.

"Okay, I'll see you later."

Soon after Remy left, John sat on his bed playing with his lighter. It was only nine, far too early to go to bed. He decided to go watch television in the student lounge since he couldn't leave the mansion due to his probation. Usually the younger kids were asleep by now.

He opened the door and stepped out into the hall and just then, ran right into someone.

"Sorry," John muttered and then looked up to see that it was Bobby.

He narrowed his eyes before walking around him but the sound of his voice stopped him from going further.

"John, wait. Can I talk to you?"

Sighing, John turned around and crossed his arms over his chest. The last time the two of them talked it turned into nothing but a childish game of blaming each other for their falling out.

"Well, what do you want to say to me?"

"That day at Alkali Lake, things changed. At first I was mad at you, I thought that you turned your back on us, on the school, on me. I thought that maybe to you, our friendship meant nothing anymore, but then after a while, I realized that what you did that day, you didn't do because you wanted to hurt us. You did for your own reasons, whatever they might have been."

Bobby's voice was quiet as he finishing speaking and had his eyes to the floor. He couldn't meet John's stare. Then for the first time in a little while, John smiled a genuine smile. Bobby finally looked up and the two stared at each other, a silent exchange of apologies and forgiveness apparent.

"You're still going to leave again, aren't you?" Bobby asked.

"I haven't really thought about it. My session's with Dr. McCoy are going pretty well. I really don't know what I'm going to do when I've completed them all."

"Well...you know your bed in our old room is still available. If you want to move back in..."

John smirked as he trailed off.

"Sure, it'd be nice to have my own bed again. But I'll move back in tomorrow, I'm heading to the lounge, care to join me?"

"Sure." Bobby grinned.

The two walked side by side down the hall, heading to the student lounge. After turning a few corners, Bobby spoke up again.

"Hey, do you know what 'abruti' means?"

"Why?"

"Remy called me that earlier."

John smiled a little.

"If I remember correctly, it's French for 'dumbass'".

They just reached the lounge and were about to head in when John saw Remy and Rogue walking down the hallway, towards them.

"What are you guys doing here? I thought you were going to the movies."

"We decided to rent tonight." Rogue answered.

She had a movie from Blockbuster in her hand while Remy had a couple of bags from Wendy's. Bobby and him were giving each other looks until Remy handed him one.

"Peace offering?"

Smiling a little, Bobby accepting the bag and the four of them walked into the room, Rogue placed the movie into the DVD player.

"What did you get?" John asked.

"Dawn of the Dead." Remy answered. "The original, not the crappy remake."

John sat on the couch, and pulled his lighter out of his pocket. Rogue and Remy sat on either side of him. They had been trying really hard not to be a couple as much around him. John was touched at the gesture, but he really didn't mind. He actually thought they were trying a bit too hard to make sure he's happy enough so he wouldn't think of himself as the 'third wheel' again. Just as the move started, John was about to flick his lighter open, but something stopped him. He stared down at it for a moment before placing it back in his pocket. And right then, as he looked from Bobby to Rogue to Remy, he realized something.

Pyro was gone. He was only a name now.

John never liked loose ends, he liked having them all tied nicely away, and he was glad this particular loose end was tired away tight before he started his new life, his second chance at the school.


End file.
